Generations (SYOC)
by Alephion
Summary: We all know of RWBY and JNPR. But before the light fell, before RWBY and JNPR began their journeys as huntsmen and huntresses, before Yang discovered bad puns and Ruby tasted cookies and before even STRQ, many more brave lights existed before them. And so the wheel turns, the torch being passed from one generation unto another. An SYOC fic. Minor AU. Currently on: GENERATION I
1. Generation I : Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, RWBY belongs to RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum. I only own my OC.**

 **IMPORTANT STUFF (MAYBE.)**

 **Welcome to** ** _Generations_** **, an SYOC fic. So please, send me your submissions! The template can be found on my profile, details are also on my profile.**

 **What is Generations? Generations is an SYOC fic that will go for several... well... generations. Generation I will be entirely OCs while Generation II will *gasp spoilers* feature Team STRQ, other notable characters and so on and so on.**

 **Every OC that appears in the previous Generation will make minor appearances in the next Generation. If your OC isn't accepted for the current Generation then rest assured, your OC will appear in the next Generation.**

 **That's all _Generations_ will be, for now. Generation I will be a peaceful generation. Generation II and onwards will have plot with Generation I characters making huge impacts on II and III.**

 **-/-/-**

 **GENERATION I : PROLOGUE**

Steel gray eyes opened up to the world. They blinked blearily before coming into focus, then they widened in alarm.

The owner of those gray eyes shot up from bed, Mono Chrome looked around her room wildly before settling on her clock.

6:47 _AM_

She shrieked, flinging the covers off and rushing to the bathroom, grabbing her clothes along the way with the intent of changing as fast as possible.

Mono Chrome is a seventeen-year-old girl. A cat faunus to be exact. She had an angular face, gray slit eyes, long hair the same shade of her eyes with the bangs brushed to one side albeit very messily and her white cat ears sat atop all of this. All in all, one could describe Mono Chrome's appearance as 'dull'. She walked out of the bathroom wearing her usual black hoodie and gray shorts, her mother had always pestered her about wearing more colour but she was perfectly fine with these 'dull' and 'boring' shades, she liked blending into the background.

But her personality was anything but boring.

And the reason why she was panicking right now was because she is to be a student that was to attend Beacon. Growing up, her dream was to become a fully-fledged huntress and that she would one day make a change in this world. A change for the better. But all of that would have to wait until she arrived at the airship. The airship to Beacon that was to leave at 7:00 AM.

She quickly picked up and strapped her katana, Dancing Reaver, onto her back before dashing out of her room and down the stairs of their little house located in the Kingdom of Vale. Her mother, Mana, was already awake and making breakfast in the kitchen.

"Mom!" Mono whined, plucking a piece of toast as she walked past the dining table and making for the front door. "Why didn't you wake me up?! I'm going to be late!" She quickly bent down and awkwardly attempted to put on her white shoes with the piece of toast in her mouth.

Mana poked her head out of the kitchen with a confused expression on her face, her gray hair tied up in a ponytail and her own cat ears twitching, "Late for what sweetie?"

"The airship to Beacon!" She waved her arms around exaggeratedly. Since she was hopping on one foot when she was doing this, it was a bit of poor judgement there and she landed on her rear with a thump.

"Oh." Mana blinked before smiling and shaking her head exasperatedly, "The airship doesn't leave until tomorrow. You still have this day to prepare."

Mono looked up in surprise, her piece of toast falling from her open mouth, "Really? I could have sworn it was today.."

Mana shook her head again, "No. I checked the calendar when I got up this morning, the airship doesn't live until 7:00 AM tomorrow. It appears you've gotten your dates mixed up again." She sighed "Now that you aren't panicking and stomping around like an Ursai, perhaps we can have breakfast?" She held up a plate with a stack of pancakes.

Mono flushed before nodding and standing up, taking her piece of toast and making her way over to the table. Now that she wasn't, as her mother eloquently put it, stomping around like an Ursai she realised how hungry she was. Her mother set down the plate before sitting down on the other side of Mono, they both picked up their forks and dug into the stack of delicious heavenly pancakes with gusto. Her mother always made the best pancakes.

Mono set down her fork and pushed aside the empty plate, "Thanks for the breakfast Mom, but I'm going out."

Mana looked up from her plate of pancakes, "Where are you going now?"

"I'm going to restock for Dancing Reaver." Mono indicated to the katana that was still strapped to her back, "I just realised that I forgot to stock up on Dust for it."

Her mother had a disapproving look on her face, "You shouldn't leave things until the last minute."

Mono flushed again and scratched the back of her head sheepishly, "Sorry..."

Mana sighed before reaching across the table and patting her head fondly, "Go on, before you forget again."

Mono nodded and stood up, immediately dashing for the door. Mana smiled after her before sitting down at the table again and quietly finishing the stack of pancakes, without Mono around, the house suddenly became too quiet.

 **-/-/-**

Mono quickly sprinted down the street, her feet taking her towards a newly opened Dust shop in the area. As she sprinted down the street, she was suddenly aware of the glares fixed on her while she ran but she did her resolute best to ignore all of this. The Great War had ended nearly a decade ago and there was still a lot of racism against faunus these days, but she would always hope that someday, perhaps someday soon, that humans and faunus would set aside their differences and unite as one.

She quickly turned the corner that would put her right in front of the newly opened shop, 'From Dust till Dawn' and bumped into someone.

* * *

 **The person that Mono had bumped into will be an OC. Which OC is entirely uncertain.**

 **So I hope you liked that first peek into Generations it's quite short but they will get longer once I get more material I can write with but to continue...**

 **I NEED OCS!**

 **I only made one OC (two if you count Mana), the rest is up to you guys.**

 **So here is some information that you'll need to know when sending your submissions.**

 **1. COLOUR NAMING RULE.**

 **2\. I don't mind edgy backstories (parents being killed, abused, traumatic experiences) but if there is an overabundance of this in your OC then your submission will be DENIED. Of course, please don't stop from putting stuff like this in your submission. This is just a WARNING to not put too much in it. Because edgy backstories make for interesting OCs.**

 **3\. Your OCs will be paired with other OCs to form teams, this will be entirely dependent on their personality and how I think they click.**

 **4\. Making your OC overpowered. I don't need to explain this.**

 **5\. You can make an entire OC team.**

 **6\. I do need OCs who will stand against our main characters. Not antagonists but OCs that will attend Beacon and will be an obstacle. Examples include anti-faunus, bullies or just the typical rival.**

 **7\. Professor OCs. Yes. Professor OCs.**

 **8\. I've had someone ask me about avian faunus. They are allowed but they will be _rare. _ At best, I will be allowing two avian faunus for Generation I so if you want an avian faunus right now.. you know what they say, the early bird catches the worm.**

 **So! I look forward to reading all of your submissions and I will see you next time where we will move on to introductions!**

 **Review and Favourite!**

 **-PinwheelGrizzly**


	2. Generation I : Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own RWBY, RWBY belongs to RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum. I only own my OC.**

 **Author's note at the bottom.**

* * *

 **-/-/-**

 **GENERATION I : CHAPTER 1**

 **-/-/-**

It was like running into a wall, Mono Chrome would think as she contemplated her life in the few seconds that she had. She flailed around before landing on her rear for the second time that day, the person that she had run into was still standing upright and had his back to her.

Mono Chrome took a moment to stare, the person was wearing no shirt which left his back exposed and it was _covered_ with scars that looked suspiciously like claw-marks and from her vantage point, she could make out bite marks around his neck, a jagged cut on his right leg stretching from his upper thigh to his knee.

The person would turn around and she realised, with a start, that there were even more scars on his front, three ugly slashes across his chest, left torso and face, circular ones that looked like bullets on his right shoulder. These scars spoke of a hard life that was filled with pain, Mono suddenly felt pity for him.

She then realised that she was still staring at him, "Ah! I'm so sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going and I-"

The boy held up his hand and she closed her mouth with a click. "It's fine," his voice was very quiet, "Please watch where you're going next time."

She took the chance to observe the boy closer if the long black tail and amber cat-like eyes weren't enough then the pair of feline ears sitting atop of his wild, untamed hair said it all. He was a faunus.

Mono nodded and was suddenly struck by the fact that the only piece of clothing on his body was the pair of black shorts that he was wearing. She blushed suddenly.

 _'He's... very muscular'_ She thought.

And it was true, beneath all of the scars, there was a lean and muscular body that most girls would fawn over if it weren't covered with wounds.

 _'Damnit, I thought I had left all of those hormones behind!'_

The faunus nodded and extended a hand, Mono took hold of it and was yanked up with such force that she stumbled and the faunus had to grab hold of her to keep her from falling on her rear again, that would have been embarrassing.

"Take care." She then realised that the faunus had just said his goodbyes and was already vanishing around the corner, she seemed to be very slow today. Mono stood there for another ten seconds before remembering why she was here in the first place.

"I got distracted again!"

 **-/-/-**

It was around fifteen minutes later that Mono Chrome had arrived at her destination.

Even at this hour, a small crowd had already formed around the dust shop, she had wanted to get here early before the crowd had formed but bumping into the boy from earlier had cost her precious time. Most of the crowd were actually Beacon hopefuls like her and all of them were stocking up on Dust now while they can because once the airship leaves for Beacon, you wouldn't be able to restock, after all, it's pretty hard to leave an academy that's mostly isolated from the city.

And so, we find Mono in the midst of this crowd, barely squeezing through the door. What with all of the pushing and shoving, it was hard to get by but with Mono's size, it was easy to slip through the cracks in the crowd. The shop was just as packed inside as it was outside, with people at the counter, perusing magazines and grabbing Dust like it was running out of business, which was actually very accurate, the Dust was liable to sell out soon.

But she wasn't interested in any of this, she had already placed an order ahead of time, it was lucky that she did. She strode up to the counter and waited patiently for the shopkeeper to speak to her,

The Shopkeeper, a middle-aged man whose hair was beginning to gray, nodded at a young beauty with golden hair and a black beret who threw her head back and openly laughed which attracted the attention of several nearby customers including Mono, she had a very pretty laugh. The Shopkeeper smiled at her, "Thank you very much, Miss Glaive."

The young woman winked at the Shopkeeper, "No, no. Thank YOU, sir." and with that, she grabbed her bags and walked towards the door like she owned the place. Throughout the entire conversation, from her laugh to her exit, Mono kept her eyes on the woman. There was something about her that just draws your attention towards her.

"Ah, Miss Chrome." Her eyes snapped back to the Shopkeeper who was holding several containers of the Dust she ordered and was regarding her politely. "I believe this is the Dust that you ordered?"

Mono smiled at the Shopkeeper, "Yes sir, thank you very much."

The Shopkeeper nodded and tapped on his cash register, "That'll be 2,500 Lien, Miss Chrome."

Mono reached for her mother's credit card only to discover that it wasn't there, "Ugh... Girl pockets are the worst!" She looked around on the floor for the credit card and discovered it being held by a red-haired girl that was standing right behind her.

"I believe you are looking for this?" Her voice was gentle and melodic, her blue eyes staring into Mono Chrome's own without a hint of judgement in them.

"Ah, yes! Thank you very much... Mom would've killed me if I lost it." Mono Chrome chuckled sheepishly as she took the credit card from the red-haired girl.

"Goodwill is a gift that humanity has been blessed to receive. It is a gift that we should all share." The red-haired girl nodded kindly, a serene smile on her face.

Mono couldn't help but feel relaxed around her and smiled back, "Thank you."

The red-haired girl inclined her head, her beautiful red hair falling to the side, "Until we meet again." She elegantly walked out of the store, her backpack which Mono assumed contained Dust on her shoulder.

Mono turned back to the Shopkeeper who was waiting patiently, she handed him the credit card and paid for all of her Dust.

"Let's see... Fire Dust... Lightning... Ice... Magnetic..." After checking and making sure she had the right amount of Dust, she fled the store like a bat out of hell, it was really stuffy and confined in there which Mono did not like at all.

 **-/-/-**

Mono had rounded the corner where she had last slammed into the faunus boy when she was suddenly surrounded by three human boys.

"Well lads, look what we have here.." The lead boy, a big and broad shouldered boy, stepped forward with a sneer on his face, "Another animal."

Mono quietly bristled at being compared to an animal, her cat ears twitched and she had to suppress a hiss. Even if she wanted to unite the faunus and humans one day, it was hard not to react to being called an animal, no-one liked being compared to some wild beast.

The leader's lackeys snickered and the one on her right had the gall to actually shove her. The leader stepped forward and shoved his face right against hers, "Now listen here, freak. I don't like you prancing around my neighbourhood, you're stinking up the air with your scent."

Mono glared at him, "I guess you would know how an animal acts since you're quite the brute yourself."

The leader growled, "Well-" He didn't get very far, as a hand had grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around, "Wha-" his words cut off right there as a literal _giant_ stood in front of him, and was scowling at him, and was aiming a fist right at him.

There was a crack as the leader of the Three Stooges flew back, nearly landing on Mono who had skipped out of the way. The remaining two boys looked at each other and fled the scene. Mono looked up at her saviour, broad shouldered and a literal giant, standing at around 6'7" if she had to guess, he looked very muscular and was heavily tanned which pointed to having an active life outdoors.

His deep green eyes glared at the boy who lay crumpled at Mono's feet before glancing up to look at her, he brushed aside his short and messy hair that was the same colour as her own hair, a 'boring' and 'dull' shade of gray. His presence was like being exposed in front of a crowd, suffocating.

Mono squirmed underneath his gaze before speaking up, "Um.. thanks for the help... you didn't hit him too hard did you?"

The giant blinked, "Didn't hit hard." The boy groaned from his position on the ground.

Mono raised one delicate eyebrow, "Why did you help me?"

The giant shrugged, "Jerks." He was evidently a man of few words. The giant straightened and looked up at the sky to check the time, it was getting closer to 8:00 AM now, "Take care." He spun around and walked away.

Mono was speechless, she had never, in all of her life, been helped by a human before. Deep down, that small spark of hope that human and faunus could unite was slowly growing, and all it took was one act of kindness.

She walked home that day with her head held higher and a straight back.

 **-/-/-**

Mono sighed and collapsed onto her bed. After that interesting trip to the Dust store, nothing else had happened and so Mono continued with her life, determined to enjoy the last vestiges of her normal days and one she wouldn't get to experience again for another four years.

Because tomorrow, she was going to Beacon.

* * *

 **OC LIST [In order of appearance]:**

 **Mono Chrome - PinwheelGrizzly**

 **(?) "Shirtless Faunus" - Deadly Animals Are Cute**

 **(?) "Miss Glaive" - ChillyIce**

 **(?) "Red hair Girl" - Saint Lake**

 **(?) "Giant" - reven228**

 **My inbox had EXPLODED overnight, so many submissions...**

 **Whoo. So here we have our first chapter which barely introduces several OCs that have been submitted. It was a bit longer since I had some material to work with but there was nothing interesting that was going to happen, only introductions.**

 **Next chapter, we finally have Beacon and several more OCs that will make up our Generation I.**

 **Now to answer some universal questions that I had been receiving.**

 **1\. I found out that The Great War was a RWBY equivalent to World War II meaning it had happened around seventy years prior to RWBY. I had facedesked upon receiving this because the author (me) was being stupid. So to fix this problem, this is now my own lore. The timeline will be altered, etc, etc.**

 **2\. Dancing Reaver is not a normal katana. Well, it might be, but if you read over this chapter closely, you might find some clues as to how Mono fights. Weapons will be explained more during initiation.**

 **3\. Avian faunus are actually still open for Generation I, the person that had asked me about it decided not to submit one and I already have one avian faunus. The next one to submit an avian faunus will get the place, all others will be denied.**

 **Like always, Review and Favorite and I'll see you next time!**

 **-PinwheelGrizzly**


	3. Generation I : Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, RWBY belongs to RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum. I do not own any OCs here other than Mono Chrome.**

* * *

 **-/-/-**

 **GENERATION I : CHAPTER 2**

 **'From Dust they came...'**

 **-/-/-**

Mono Chrome had actually woken up a bit before her alarm (which she remembered to set) at around 5:30 AM. She had an hour and a half to shower, eat breakfast (cooked by her mom, how was she even up at this ungodly hour? Mothers are powerful) and check over her luggage to see if she (forgot) misplaced anything. After that, it was only a matter of kissing her mother goodbye and leaving for the docks at 6:30 AM.

It wasn't far to walk. Vale was divided into sectors with most of the faunus living in _Caige_ including the Chrome family, it was closer to Central Vale than the other sectors but it was still quite close to the border which was where the docks were located. The White Fang had protested at the choice of the sector's name, supposedly it was named after one of the 'honourable huntsman' that defended humanity _,_ that's right, _humanity_. The name was a subtle gesture, to say that the faunus weren't the ones with power, that they weren't in control, the humans were, they were merely placed inside a cage and forgotten but honestly? She was just glad that they had given the faunus a place to live in at all.

It saddened her that no-one save for the small handful of people that she had met the other day have decided to put their differences aside, she was a child when the war had ended but she was old enough to remember the chaos of it all and in the end, they were all people on the same journey to the grave.

The war had ended only officially, the fires still raged on today.

The rest of Mono's journey to the docks was spent in silence.

 **-/-/-**

The docks were _crowded._ Like... _REALLY CROWDED._ A lot of people, both faunus and human, were rushing around like busy bees inside a hive. Most of the people were students, whether they were starting out at Beacon like Mono was or they were students returning for a new year didn't matter, there were a _LOT_ of them. If she had to guess, she'd say that over half of the people at the docks right now were students attending Beacon.

And so, Mono Chrome, seventeen-years-old and a cat faunus was standing there gaping at not the people but the airship. It was an impressive display. The airship was massive with six 'wings', three on each side and four engines at the back, did she mention that it was massive? Indeed, this particular model of the airship was actually used during the war designed to transport troops across the entirety of Remnant so it was heavily armoured, and she did not miss the guns that were mounted on the sides as well, how could anyone? They were so visible that you would have to be blind to miss it. And there were _THREE_ of them, if she didn't know better, she'd say this was a show of power.

She just stood awkwardly off to the side of the entrance, she had no-one to talk to and most of the students here were in groups and she was... really bored. She automatically defaulted to one of her favourite hobbies, people watching (Her mother called it stalking) and noted that the initiates were easier to spot than the students that had already spent a year at Beacon. Her eyes roamed the veritable sea of people and trying to figure out how a person worked just by watching them, mentally making notes before forgetting them and moving on.

Faunus could detect body language easier than humans did, it was an instinct that all faunus had when to tell if a prey is about to flee or when a predator is about to pounce. Mono just happened to be better at detecting body language because she literally had nothing to do other than read a book or wander the streets of Vale, many entertainment venues had refused to allow her into their establishment with the exception of the local library, the librarian was very open-minded when it came to other people.

She really needed a new hobby. She unfolded her scroll which was not as flat as it was made out to be and waited for it to boot up. She was still waiting for it to load when someone startled her by tapping her on the shoulder, she yelped and accidentally threw her scroll up into the air and she had an ' _ohshititsgoingtobreak_ ' moment before a black tail had whipped out of nowhere and snatched it away from the solid ground before the scroll could smash into it and shatter into teeny tiny pieces. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She may have exaggerated a bit.

She looked up to thank the faunus (for what other species of people had a tail) that saved her lif- scroll, they weren't easy to get these days, when her eyes locked onto familiar gray eyes, the same gray eyes as hers. Her words died in her throat and she stepped back to get a better look at the person. She _knew_ those eyes.

An amused smirk on his face with long black hair pulled into a high ponytail and pale skin with steel gray eyes that seemed to be a trait amongst members of the Chrome family, Montgomery Noel Chrome stood in front of Mono Chrome. He was a cousin on her dad's side but to her, he was more of a brother, last she heard of him was that he was studying to become a hunter and was going to attend an academy; he failed to mention which academy.

She was unable to stop the shriek of surprise and pleasure from escaping her mouth and she launched herself at Monty who caught her with the smirk still on his face, his tail waving behind him.

Montgomery Noel Chrome, better known as Monty, was the son of her dad's brother who had married a monkey faunus, the monkey genes had been more dominant than the cat which made Monty a monkey faunus.

Still latched on to Monty, Mono looked up with a twinkle in her eye, "Why didn't you tell me you were going to attend Beacon with me?!"

Monty smirked and ruffled her hair, he stood 1.8 meters tall which basically made him a giant over Mono's height of 1.45 meters, "I wanted it to be a surprise."

Mono giggled and detached herself from Monty with a grin, there were a few seconds of silence between the two cousins, "... Aren't you going to give me my scroll back?"

Monty winked and tucked Mono's scroll into his pocket, "Nope."

She pouted and turned to look away but she knew he'd give it back later, Monty was a bit of a kleptomaniac.

The speakers around the docks suddenly flared to life, " _Would all Beacon students please board the airships now? Repeat, would all Beacon students please—"_

Monty picked up his backpack which he had placed down when she had launched herself at him, "Guess that's our cue."

The two cousins joined the flow of people and boarded one of the many airships that would take them to the place where they would take the first step in their journey as Huntsmen and Huntresses.

 **-/-/-**

The flight from Vale to Beacon had been uneventful, there was some 'ooh's and 'aah's as they flew over Vale and crossed the sound but it was generally uneventful. Maybe it was because Mono was scared of heights? She would deny it vehemently but Monty would state bluntly she was cowering in a corner on the airship the entire flight.

All of the students disembarked the airship and headed off into different directions with the returning students heading towards the main building while the initiates would head towards the amphitheatre. Monty had tucked his hands into his jacket and vanished saying that Mono apparently 'needed to work on socialising with others', as if he could talk, he was just as socially awkward as she was!

One thing leads to another, literally. She was chasing after Monty when she ran into another person, once again, literally. And so she landed on her rear for the third time that week and mentally cursed her size and the size of the person standing in front of her, she looked up at the person only to be greeted with a familiar sight.

Shirtless, covered in scars, really muscular- _damn it Mono!_

The students parted around the two, some of them were openly staring and whispering about the barely clothed stranger, some openly displayed their disgust at this animalistic behaviour by wearing it on their faces, some just glared with such hate that even she felt quelled by it. Eventually they had moved on after a few seconds of outright glaring.

The stranger took no notice of this and instead looked down at her with a glimmer of recognition in his eyes, "You're the beast-kin that was in the kingdom last moon." he stated in his quiet voice.

Mono blinked, taken aback by the strange way in which he spoke, "Ah... yes? I remember you too... you're uh..." She wracked her brain trying to find a name but to be honest? She was totally distracted by the fact that he was barely clothed. Oh, and the fact that he never told her his name.

The stranger eyed Mono and she shifted on the spot, she just wanted to make a friend...

Evidently, something about her convinced the stranger for he stuck out his hand, "Eše'hȯhme'ehne"

She blinked, "Huh?"

"Eše'hȯhme'ehne, that is my... name." The stranger, Eše'hȯhme'ehne, replied.

She screwed up her face in concentration, "Eesh...hoen...mini?"

Eše'hȯhme'ehne seemed amused by her efforts in pronouncing his name, "It means 'rising sun' in my tongue."

Mono continued to have the constipated look on her face before realising that the courtyard around them was empty, her eyes widened, "We're going to miss the opening ceremony!" She panicked.

Eše'hȯhme'ehne blinked, "The open-" he didn't get to comment anymore as Mono suddenly leapt up, grabbed him and dragged him in the direction of the amphitheatre.

 **-/-/-**

As they raced for the amphitheatre, Eše'hȯhme'ehne had openly stared in wonder at everything around him while Mono just kept dragging him along. "We can still make it!" She exclaimed as they saw the last of the students shuffle into the building. They ran in just as everyone else had finished entering.

Mono let out a breath, panting slightly. "Well, that was a close one..." She turned to look at Eše'hȯhme'ehne but found that in the short amount of time that she had taken her eyes off of him, he had somehow managed to vanish. He either had superhuman speed or the ability to turn invisible. Or he just hated crowds.

To be honest, it was quite upsetting how he just up and left her like that.

There was an excited atmosphere in the air and the amphitheatre was packed with students. The nervous tension that had appeared in the docks and somehow lingered in the airship had vanished upon actually arriving and seeing the shining hope that was Beacon Academy.

Despite this, however, there was definitely still some tension in the air. If you looked at the crowd, you would notice that it was split into two. The faunus all huddled on one side of the amphitheatre while the humans occupied the other, the faunus tried to stay far away from the humans and vice versa. The tension was thick the closer they were together with the middle being completely silent as opposed to the edges of the crowd where they were chattering animatedly.

She ignored all of this and looked around to see if she could spot Monty in the crowd, her eyes roamed for a bit before spotting him at the edge of the faunus crowd and far away from the other students. 'Learn how to socialise' was what he said, 'You need friends' was what he said.

Mono approached Monty who smiled at her in return, she glared at him. "You ditched me in the courtyard!"

Monty shrugged effortlessly, "You needed to find a friend,"

She gave Monty a flat stare that _screamed_ irony.

He looked away whistling sheepishly before nodding to the stage, "Oh look, it's starting."

And indeed it was, for a man in a white coat and messy red hair strode up onto the stage and into the light that was shining down on him from the morning sun, giving him a sort of natural spotlight. The man, evidently a professor at Beacon Academy cleared his throat and spoke in a casual and somewhat lazy tone,

"Welcome to Beacon Academy, my name is Vesuvius Red but you will refer to me as Professor Red... if you even make it past initiation of course."

There was some outraged muttering among the students at the casual dismissal, they felt that he could hardly talk, he barely looked the part of a hunter. Heck, it looked like that 'Professor Red' looked like he had just barely dragged himself out of bed.

Professor Red just yawned, "Whatever, I don't care about what you think of me. Once you get into Beacon, maybe then I'll bother looking in your direction."

There were much more cries after that statement but they were subdued when a wave of heat and _power_ slammed into them making the back of their hairs stand up and causing Mono and Monty to unintentionally hiss in sync, their fight or flight response going haywire in the presence of a much larger predator. The source of this raw power was none other than the Professor himself. Everyone was stunned into silence, he maintained the bored expression on his face,

"Law of the Jungle. Do you want to survive initiation? Then you'd best listen closely."

He suddenly stepped away from the front of the stage and another man stepped up, it was none other than Ozpin, the Headmaster of Beacon himself.

He cleared his throat, "Yes... thank you for that impressive display, Professor Red. As you may know, you have chosen the path of a Huntsmen, a guardian and protector of our fragile society. We are not here to hold your hand, instead, we will push you forward and guide you as best as we can. You are not here to fight only Grimm, you are here to fight the injustice that mankind has done to itself. You are the spark that will ignite change for a new generation."

Ozpin paused and took a sip from his cup.

"You are the defenders of peace, you are to take up what the previous generation has left for you and pass it on to the generation that will take up the reigns much like you did. When you were young, you looked up to these heroes. As you grow old, those that will come after you will look up to _you_ as heroes as well. You are hope, you are the light."

The Headmaster of Beacon finished his speech by taking another sip of coffee, there was utter silence. And then one person started to clap, and then another, and another; as if hit by a wave of inspiration, everyone was clapping and cheering. The tension that had reigned supreme earlier had completely vanished.

Ozpin smiled, "And with that, let's start explaining initiation."

And suddenly the nervous tension was back.

Ozpin stepped away from the front and Professor Red stepped back up again,

"The initiation will be hosted in the Emerald Forest. It will be a survival exam. Students will form pairs and be launched into the Emerald Forest at random times and in random locations, each pair will be given a relic they must guard. The goal of the exam is to collect as many relics as possible from other teams when one team encounters another and they choose to fight, the winning team will take one and only one relic from the losing team. The team that loses is then officially out of the exam and the amount of relics they carry will be tallied up. Every team will be ranked from according to how many relics they collected and using these rankings, we will determine your actual team for the next four years. Oh, and take note that if one member of your pair is unable to continue fighting, you are out."

Professor Red clapped his hands together, "Any questions?"

One student near the front raised his hand, "How long are we going to be out in the forest?"

Professor Red hummed, "Around a week at most."

"What?! But what are we supposed to do for food and water?!" The student and many others seemed shocked, including Mono.

Professor Red shrugged lazily, "There are plenty of wild beasts in the forest, or if you're a vegetarian then there is plenty of plants around as well. As for water, I heard there was a river and some small watering holes scatted around the forest, it's quite a big forest after all."

A student in the middle of the crowd raised their hand, "How will you know if we take more than one relic?"

Professor Red blinked slowly, "We'll know."

"And it's not stalking." The professor added,

"..."

Mono raised her hand, still reeling in shock about the exam. "How will pairs be formed?"

Ozpin chose this moment to walk up to the front, "I'm glad you asked because the pairs will be chosen by..."

Everyone leaned forward in anticipation.

The Headmaster of Beacon smiled mysteriously, "They will be chosen by..."

The tension was so thick that you could cut through it with a butter knife.

He suddenly held two hats in his hands, "Luck of the draw."

Everyone sweatdropped. Mono's ears were twitching. You could hear a cricket chirping.

 _So our teams are just going to be decided through LUCK?!_

Ozpin smiled once again, "I suggest everyone get well acquainted and get some rest while they can for the initiation will begin tomorrow. You will sleep in the ballroom for tonight."

And with that, Ozpin dismissed them all.

 **-/-/-**

Mono Chrome had left the amphitheatre in a daze, she had expected a tough initiation but a survival exam in the forest for an entire _week_? That was certainly stretching it. Monty had left Mono, muttering something about an oven and his pet chinchilla. Maybe she had misheard him, she was still quite shocked at how brutal this exam was going to be for how could it be anything other than brutal? Getting sent into a Grimm infested forest with wild animals, no food and water and enemies surrounding them in all directions was something you would see in a battlefield, not a school.

Even so, she was determined to pass this exam or die trying (okay, she didn't really want to die but it was the thought that counts.)

How else would she change this world? Certainly not through sitting around and whining about how strenuous the exam was going to be, in fact, this was going to be an experience, being dropped into the deep end and experiencing the field was a perfect way to get acquainted with the life of a Huntsmen, they weren't kidding when they said they weren't going to hold your hand. You have to learn how to swim fast or sink and drown.

 _That was really morbid._

In truth, she was still scared about leaping into the world of Huntsmen so suddenly. But even so, she was a cat and don't cats always land on their feet?

* * *

 **OC LIST [In order of appearance]:**

 **Mono Chrome - PinwheelGrizzly**

 **Montgomery Noel "Monty" Chrome - Alien and Wolfie**

 **Eše'hȯhme'ehne - Deadly Animals Are Cute**

 **Vesuvius Red - PinwheelGrizzly**

 **Sorry for being late but I am moving houses soon which means no internet.** **So before going AWOL, I had, at least, wanted to give you guys this chapter. This chapter was actually split in half, it was much bigger but it wasn't finished yet soooo... pleasedon'tkillme.**

 **In regards to how brutal this initiation is, they had just left a war-torn world so they're still having trouble separating from that 'child soldier' mindset, even our immortal wizard needs time to pull himself together again.**

 **The little bits of technology that featured in this chapter (The airship, the scroll) are older models obviously and I wrote down the differences, if you read carefully (or just look at the wiki) then the differences will be obvious.**

 **Vesuvius Red is a Professor OC that I made up.**

 **I spent the longest time writing Ozpin, and I still don't know if I managed to write him correctly.**

 **I'm getting a very 'Forest of Death' vibe from this initiation... hmm...**

 **Review, favourite and comment!**

 **-PinwheelGrizzly**

 **(Oh, and here's a little apology gift for being late. An extra from me to you!)**

* * *

 **EXTRA:**

Mana Chrome smiled proudly and waved goodbye to her daughter as she left for Beacon. Her smiled was filled with pride, but also with sadness. Mono was moving on and leaving her behind and she didn't know if she'd be safe, she promised she would call on her scroll but watching her daughter's back get further and further away was enough to make her worry and _shesgettingfurtherandfurtherawayandohmyoumshesleavingmebehindand-_

-took a deep breath. Mono would be going away for a long time but she would be a sight to behold when she returns, she would have to make her favourite dish to celebrate when she came home. She watched her daughter disappear around the corner, she stood at the door for a while before she walked back into the house because after all, not everyone could wallow in the past forever.

She would have to get used to the house being empty.

But that was alright because she was patient.

She could wait.

Mana hummed a happy tune as her eyes fell upon a single picture framed up on the wall. She smiled.

She would wait four years.

And when her daughter returned, she would be returning to her mother's open arms.

* * *

 ** _Next time on Generations, Chapter 3..._**

 ** _'... to Dust they return'_**

 _... Mono Chrome yelped and ducked under the claws of a young beowolf. She spun, quickly unsheathing Dancing Reaver and sliced open the legs of the beowolf, it fell back with a whine and her partner took that opportunity to finish it off by slicing its throat. Another beowolf carcass was dissolving a few meters away._

 _She sighed and stood up, sheathing Dancing Reaver, "Barely five minutes in and already we're being jumped by the local wildlife."_

 _Her partner just glanced over in her direction, "Stay close. I think I saw a pair land nearby while I was still in the air."_

 _Mono rolled her eyes, "Just great..."_


	4. Generation I : Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, RWBY belongs to RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum. I do not own any of the OCs here other than Mono Chrome.**

 **REALLY SORRY ABOUT THIS LATE CHAPTER.**

 **But I recently moved houses, and my stupid internet provider had screwed up. Big time. So we went a week without the internet which was fine (except for me shooting past my deadline) but then they said that they might not be able to connect our house until one or two weeks later.**

 **So yeah, we were slightly annoyed.**

 **I had to take advantage of free wifi (Internet Cafes, Hotspot, School wifi) and work on this chapter little by little, and I'm taking advantage of it now to post this chapter for you guys so you don't have to wait an extra week or two. Of course, this means I won't be able to post future chapters until internet returns, and if I do happen to post them, they will be extremely delayed.**

 **But, good news, I was able to smooth out the major plot points for the rest of Generation I.**

 **Enough of me rambling. Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 **-/-/-**

 **GENERATION** **I :** **CHAPTER 3**

 **'... to Dust they return'**

 **-/-/-**

Mono woke up earlier than usual, around 6:00 AM if judging by how dark it was and if her internal body clock could be trusted, which she was confident she could trust. Normally if she were still living in Vale, it would mean that she would immediately flop back onto her pillow and get back to sleep, and she did try to only to find out that she couldn't return to her dream of rainbows and sunshine. It turns out that even a good night's rest wasn't enough to kill the butterflies that were fluttering around in her stomach, and after all, who wouldn't be nervous? Especially with what the initiation was like this year.

She pulled herself up from her bedroll, already some students were up and about, diligently doing their morning stretches and quietly checking their weapons. Off to her side, her cousin Monty was still snoring away, occasionally his tail would twitch about and he would mutter quietly.

She stared at him for a bit more before standing up, her red ("You need more colour!") nightgown rustling, and gathering the necessities she needed for her morning routine.

By the time she got back from her 'exciting' journey to the public bathroom, more students were already up and about although the rest remained asleep. Most of the students that were awake were actually faunus with the majority being types of animals that were nocturnal such as a cat faunus like herself. She had noticed that, like in the amphitheatre, that the two races had split once again with the humans occupying the far side of the ballroom, away from the entrance. A noticeable gap could be seen between the faunus and the humans.

She picked her way over to her sleeping area and packed her bedroll up, tying it tightly and stuffing it into her bag, while she was at it, she plucked the scroll that Monty had remembered _NOT_ to return (She was sure he was doing it on purpose) and flicked it on, the time was closer to 6:30 AM now and now most of the students were starting to stir.

She quickly reached into her bag to retrieve Dancing Reaver and examined it quickly.

The elegant looking katana was sheathed inside its counterpart, the hilt was wrapped in grey cloth and had a small chain with a mini cat's paw attached to it, it was a gift her mother had given her when she had left for Beacon yesterday. Her eyes lingered on the charm for a moment longer before she drew Dancing Reaver from its resting place. The edge of the blade was currently blue and made a slight hissing sound as she lightly swung it around, taking extra care not to accidentally chop off her favourite cousin's tail. The sheath of the blade also had a cutting edge to it, it was painted black and the edge was blue, just like the blade.

The black blade gleamed ominously.

Her mother had told her that she disliked black. Black was the colour of death and it was the colour that everyone knew back during the war.

She idly sheathed the blade and shoved it back into her luggage. Maybe a morning jog would help her get rid of these depressing thoughts that seemed to be popping up a lot lately.

 **-/-/-**

By the time she got back from her morning jog, everyone was up and about. It seemed everyone was feeling the same as how she did when she woke up that morning. There was excited chattering but she could read how nervous and tense everyone was, and no doubt people could do to the same to her. She took Dancing Reaver from her bag as well as much Dust and ammunition that she could carry without hindering herself, she would definitely need it.

Monty was sliding in an ammo clip for his weapon, two steel tonfas with gun barrels at the end. She remembered when Monty had upgraded it to become a gatling gun when combined, she remembered drooling a little. He slid the tonfas into his belt and held a thumbs up.

"Ready?"

Mono grimaced, "No. But let's do this."

The two cousins slipped out of the bustling ballroom, following the flow of students towards the amphitheatre. Along the way, she had tried to make casual conversation with her cousin. Key word being tried. He was probably nervous too. ("How's life?" "Fine." "Your family?" "Fine." "... How's my ass?" "Fine. Wait, wha—")

They entered the amphitheatre which was slowly filling with other students. They stood at the edge of the crowd while they waited, they enjoyed keeping to themselves unlike others around them who continued to mingle with each other.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, a man with neatly combed black hair and a black suit — akin to a butler, stepped forward.

Another Professor, like Professor Red. And like Professor Red, he felt powerful. The air in the amphitheatre was heavy and... there was no other word to describe it, it felt _electrifying._

"Greetings young apprentices. My name is Gamma Black although those of you who will attend Beacon will refer to me as Professor Black."

His tone was formal and polite which brokered no argument, his posture was upright and practised and his hands clasped behind his back. He was also straight to the point,

"Each and every one of you will be receiving partners through Headmaster Ozpin's brilliant system of selection."

She wasn't sure if he was joking or not.

The butler-professor held up the two hats from yesterday, "You will receive your partners through these hats. Both hats have the exact same pieces of paper. You will select one and find your partner who has the matching piece. As soon as you find your partner, you will make your way over to the cliffs."

The butler-professor inclined his head, "If there are any questions, please speak them now."

He was met with silence.

"Very well then, please come up two at a time and select one piece of paper from a hat."

The process took a while, for collecting the paper and finding the partner considering the number of initiates. Everyone around her shuffled, the nervousness transforming into impatience.

Finally, it was Mono's turn at the hat, she found herself instinctively flinching away from the professor who was waiting patiently, she felt... _something_ from the professor and it was something she didn't like — it crackled and snapped, like lightning. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see another faunus student leaning away from the professor as well.

It was definitely something to watch out for. But back to the present...

She sent a mental prayer to Oum for luck, withdrew a piece of paper and stepped off the stage, anxiety was rearing its ugly head. She knew that some of the human students here were anti-faunus, she hoped she got someone she was compatible with. She opened her piece of paper and looked around but there were only other people around her, even Monty had vanished.

She groaned, her ears twitching in annoyance.

This would take a while.

 **-/-/-**

Mono was sitting against the wall with her head down, most of the students had gotten their pieces of paper and were now in the process of finding their partner. It a tiring and arduous process. She'd probably go as far as to say that this was their initiation exam, it was _that_ boring.

Monty had found his partner a while ago actually, it was a girl with messy brown hair done in a french braid, apparently her name was Calypso. She was quiet and even more socially awkward than Monty himself, and that was saying something. They had already left for their initiation.

She wondered what they were doing right about now. Probably something fun.

 **-/-/-**

 _Monty ducked underneath the swipes of a large boarbatusk. He was about to jam his tonfas into the Grimm's underside when a sudden sneeze made him unintentionally pull the trigger a bit too early._

 _The bullet ricocheted off of the Grimm's armour platings and almost hit him where the sun don't shine._

 _The boarbatusk continued on over him and charged at his partner, Calypso, who leapt above the large Grimm and shot at it with her revolver, like Monty's bullets, they bounced off of the Grimm harmlessly. His partner landed and quickly made his way over to him._

 _She glared, "Focus."_

 _Monty was too busy gaping at his close shave at his manhood._

 **-/-/-**

She had been actively searching for her partner when she found her.

The crowd had thinned out and she actually found her partner when _something_ drew her attention towards them, like a magnet. It was an irresistible pull and she soon found herself in the middle of a crowd within a crowd.

At the center of the crowd, another familiar sight. It was the golden haired beauty from the Dust Shop, who the Shopkeeper referred to as 'Miss Glaive'. She kept her black beret and her orange shirt seemed to glow with strange markings. The girl's bright blue eyes locked with her own steel gray ones and 'Miss Glaive' somehow managed to flow through the crowd towards her.

"Number forty-two?" The golden girl asked her who blinked at the sudden attention, not just from the girl, but from the crowd around them. It made her uncomfortable until she realised what the golden girl asked. She quickly looked down at her piece of paper and lo and behold, there was a '42' written on it.

"Ah... Yes?" She replied uncertainly,

The golden haired girl rolled her eyes, "Finally."

And all of a sudden, the pull that had tugged Mono towards this girl had vanished into thin air as if it never existed. The mini crowd around them suddenly flew away as if the same magnetic hold on them had also disappeared.

The girl gave Mono a once over before they locked onto her ears., "..."

She squirmed underneath the gaze, "... What?"

"You're a faunus."

She glared back defiantly, "So what if I am?"

The girl blinked and then let out a peal of laughter, "I like you!"

Mono immediately relaxed, it didn't seem that this girl was racist which was good news to her. She had seen some pairs immediately try and bash each other into oblivion once they had met, they would most likely not survive the forest. The thought put a damper in her mood, the system of selection seemed flawed if the pairs they put together were going to possibly _die._

The girl stopped laughing although there was the occasional snort, "I'm Oriole Glaive."

She frowned, still frowning from the sudden depressive thought, "Mono Chrome."

Oriole smiled at her, it was infectious because soon she found herself smiling as well. There was something about the girl that drew you to her. Made you want to smile with her. She had a feeling that this connection was going to be a good one.

"Although your fashion sense is terrible. Like... gray? Seriously?"

That bridge burned quickly.

 **-/-/-**

Mono was cowering behind Oriole who was rolling her eyes. The reason? They were up on Beacon Cliffs. They were up REALLY high on Beacon Cliffs. With no safety railings or anything.

And the best part is?

For their initiation, they were being _LAUNCHED_ into the forest. _LAUNCHED._ She must have missed the memo or something because she could not recall a single moment where they told her they were being _literally_ thrown into a life-or-death situation.

The cliff currently had other initiate pairs standing on different launchpads, they were staring at them strangely. Professor Red was sitting on one of the rocks littering the cliff, he was holding a clipboard and inspecting the duo lazily.

"Come on kitten. I don't have all day. You have to learn how to fly some time."

"You're helping us fly by throwing us out of the proverbial nest!" Mono retorted.

"It's an experience."

"Not a helpful one!"

Oriole sighed and forcibly dragged Mono to a launchpad who was digging her heels and leaving trails in the ground. "No. No. No."

Professor Red would idly watch as this happen before he snapped his fingers, "Oh right, I almost forgot." He rummaged around in his coat pocket before pulling out a chess piece and two strange devices.

"These are for you." He tossed it at Oriole who caught them and examined them, wrinkling her nose.

"A White Pawn?"

Professor Red shrugged, "Now, you see those devices? They're like trackers. Ozpin made them and filled them with his aura, if any of your aura bar drops to below satisfactory levels then the device will activate. It will stop the outside world from interacting with you but will also put you into some sort of... stasis, according to Ozpin."

Everyone frowned at that. Stasis? That was new to them.

"Hey, I don't make these things okay? So don't frown at me." The professor cleared his throat.

"The device will also activate a beacon. The shield will remain active for 48 hours, plenty of time for a Professor to follow the beacon, collect you and return you safely. Now if you'd please step onto your launchpads so I can toss you into the forest filled with man-eating beasts and creatures of Grimm."

They stepped onto their launchpads (Oriole dragged Mono onto the launchpad)

"Remember, you can only take one relic from a pair you've defeated." The Professor glared at the students, "And we'll know if you take more than one. So don't push it. I cannot stress how many students I had to discipline because they didn't listen."

Everyone stared strangely at the red-haired professor.

Professor Red looked back down at his clipboard, "Now a few points of advice..."

The launchpad seemed to hum beneath their feet.

"Number one, everyone is your enemy."

Beneath them, it creaked ominously.

"Number two, you can only continue if both members are able to do so, so for the love of Oum, please stick together if you don't wanna die."

There was the sound of machinery whirring and a click.

"Number three, there are no rules."

The launchpads all activated, flinging all of the initiate pairs in different directions. There was some noticeable screaming coming from a certain pair.

"HAVE FUN!" the Professor called out to them before looking back down at his clipboard.

"Next."

 **-/-/-**

She was currently screaming her head off. They were really high up and there was _NO GROUND BENEATH HER FEET._ Off to her side, Oriole was having the time of her life, whooping like a maniac, she had one hand holding down her beret and her other hand held the large bladed war fan that glinted with Dust.

"Kitten! Ground's getting closer!" She cackled

That seemed to be enough to snap Mono out of her fear-induced daze, moving quickly she unstrapped Dancing Reaver from her back, sheath and all. Now let it be known that Mono's weapons currently did not have any upgrades or features that would help her break her fall, so far, it was an ordinary (as ordinary as a weapon could be) Dust katana.

It was her semblance that was going to help break her fall.

She drew Dancing Reaver, the blade gleamed in the sunlight. She tapped her hilt before throwing the blade into the trees where she heard a faint thunk, hopefully, that meant it was dug in. To the side, Oriole had unfolded her war fan and swung it, a gust of wind which slowed her fall.

Her mother had stated how poetic her semblance was. Opposites attracted and wasn't she named from the mixing of two opposites?

Her sheath glowed white before she felt it yank in the direction where she threw her katana earlier.

Her semblance was similar to Magnetism. She would tag an object and label it 'Negative' or 'Positive' for attraction or she could tag both objects the same and make them repulse each other. It was great for whenever she accidentally dropped her scroll off a building, not that she ever dropped a scroll off a building...

Although it didn't feel great when it felt like your arm was being yanked out of your socket. She flew parallel to the ground before spotting her katana hurtling towards her, evidently the blade was pulled out from its spot when it was being attracted to her sheath.

In one fluid movement, she twisted and caught her katana with her sheath, it was so precise that it seemed practised. She flipped and planted both feet on the trunk of an approaching tree and pushed off of it, rolling on the ground and dissipating any leftover momentum.

She spun around when she heard the branches rustle and her partner dropped to the ground looking no worse for wear, not a strand of hair was out of place despite being launched through the air in contrast to Mono whose hair was messed up and she was certain there was a twig in it.

Oriole raised an eyebrow, "Apparently, my partner is attracted to trees. Literally." Mono snorted and shook her head.

Oriole hummed thoughtfully, "Well, Mono. We should hurry because I saw—" Oriole's eyes suddenly locked onto something behind Mono, she spun around, unsheathing her katana and—

The young Grimm was blasted away by a small gust of wind. She quickly glanced behind her only to spot Oriole engaging a second beowolf in combat, having most likely just saved Mono's life before leaping into battle herself.

She mentally thanked her partner. It seems that she could be trustworthy after all. She turned her attention back to the dazed beowolf in front of her which was just getting to its feet, it snarled at her before charging at her on all fours. She sprinted at it and slid underneath the Grimm as it pounced at her, she thrust her katana up and sliced the beowolf in two. It fell apart with nary a sound.

Beowolves acted a lot like normal wolves. They hunted in packs, no less than three but no more than twenty and like normal wolves, they often surrounded their prey. So Mono Chrome wasn't surprised when she heard the second growl coming from behind her. She spun around and yelped, ducking under the claws of another young beowolf, she sliced open the legs of the Grimm where it fell with a small whine. Her partner suddenly flipped over Mono's head and finished off the downed Grimm by slicing its throat with the edge of her fan. Several other beowolf carcasses were dissolving several meters away.

These Grimm were relatively weak so it had barely taken them five minutes to finish off the beowolves.

Mono sighed and stood up, sheathing Dancing Reaver, "Barely five minutes in and we've already encountered the local wildlife."

Her partner glanced in her direction before looking back down at her black and white combat skirt in distaste, "Ugh. Grimm blood..."

"It'll just dissolve."

Oriole sighed, "But still..."

Mono glanced over in Oriole and saw her delicately skirting around the other beowolf corpses, "So... What were you saying earlier?"

"Well. While you were screaming your head off-" Mono flushed "-I believe I saw another initiate pair land close by, around..." Oriole gestured vaguely.

"Well... only one way to find out."

Oriole deflated, "But that's going to ruin these designer pumps!"

"Tough luck... Wait, how are you even fighting in these?"

"Secret."

 **-/-/-**

 **DAY 1:**

As it turns out. There had been an initiate pair in the vague general direction that Oriole had waved to. The duo was easily able to take down the initiate pair through clever usage of the environment — Oriole could be surprisingly stealthy whenever she wanted to be, and the element of surprise, they were not prepared to deal with a surprise attack so soon and they were making a lot of noise so it was easy to locate them and then launch an ambush. The duo collected the relic that had been dropped in the scramble, ("A Black Pawn? Seriously?") and moved the course of the entire day, the duo had set more ambushes ("But that'll make my skirt dirty!") and had managed to amass three more relics.

Over the course of the entire day, the duo had set more ambushes ("But that'll make my skirt dirty!") and had managed to amass three more relics. The goal of the exam was to _survive_ and that there were _no rules._ It had been Oriole to figure it out first after barely escaping from an ambush set by another initiate pair who happened to be particularly smart, unlike the ones that Oriole and Mono had run into so far.

Of course, this did not mean that they managed to subdue them unscathed. They had amassed a small pile of minor wounds, a scrape here, a bruise or a small cut there. So after successfully subduing their third pair, the duo had escaped into the forest to rest and recover for the rest of the day.

By day, it was initiates and predators such as wolves with the occasional Grimm pack here and there. By night, it was the more vicious Grimm that had come out to play. So it was at this moment, the duo were running away from a pack of rather large Creeps, Creeps that were heavily armoured. And there were a lot of them.

"WHY DID YOU POKE IT?!" That was Oriole.

"CURIOSITY?" That was Mono.

Curiosity killed the cat was taken literally here.

Suffice to say, it was a bad night for the both of them. In the end, they had managed to escape from the Creep pack by climbing up a few trees and launching themselves into the forest with the aid of Mono's semblance and Oriole's wind; they did not escape untouched, Oriole had taken a particularly bad hit when one of the Grimm had whacked her with its tail and a quick check later revealed that Oriole's aura was quickly approaching red. Spending all day fighting and using the aura with no rest tends to do that.

So the duo decided a quick rest with two-hour watches. They camped out in a small clearing close to some ruins.

 **-/-/-**

 **DAY 2:**

They didn't feel any difference upon awakening, it been a terrible day and a horrible night but their aura was restored. The plan for today was to _QUIETLY_ seek out other pairs and take them out using the element of surprise. It was the only reason why they didn't take any more damage than what was necessary.

But someone else found them first.

It was thanks to Mono's enhanced hearing that she managed to avoid the large blade that slammed into the ground where she stood. The owner of the blade was massive, he stood up at nearly two meters, he had a particularly nasty sneer on his face and his blonde hair was swept to the side.

"Tch. I missed the animal."

Mono glared at the newcomer and almost hissed before stopping herself. That would only emphasize his point.

Behind Mono, Oriole had deflected several bullets that would have hit her in the back. It was good to know, once again, that she could trust her partner. Her gaze turned back to the big one, who was now resting his massive sword across his shoulders as if it weighed nothing, he still had that nasty sneer on his face.

Oh, this was going to suck.

She leapt back as the massive boy swung his equally massive blade at her, the ground cracked and dirt was sent flying in all directions. As if that move was the signal, everyone blurred into action. She couldn't see anything behind her but she heard gunshots — a lot of them, along with the occasional sound of a bullet being deflected. She continued to backpedal as the boy swung his blade wildly, giving Mono no room to do anything at all.

Oriole was facing the same troubles as her partner right now. The opponent standing in front of her, a young woman with brown hair and an overall boring look, the minigun, however, was not boring at all. The girl was showering her in a rain of bullets. She couldn't advance at all.

 _Fine._ Oriole narrowed her eyes _,_ _I don't need to get close to you._

She had wanted to try and conserve as much Dust as possible but there was no choice. The Dust crystals in her war fan glowed and the rain of bullets stopped for just a moment, and a moment was all she needed. She swung her massive fan in a wide arc, a tornado of fire blurring into existence and rushing straight towards her opponent.

Mono ducked underneath a swing that left the boy overextended.

 _Now!_

She unsheathed Dancing Reaver and lunged at the boy while he struggled to maintain his balance. The disadvantages of having a heavy blade, no matter how strong you are, momentum is one that will always defeat you given that enough force has been put into it. The blade gleamed and the edge hissed and she slashed once, twice, three times on the boy's chest plate. She was about to go in for a fourth strike when the boy lifted his foot and kicked her in the chest and sent her flying, her little frame couldn't compare to the boy's gargantuan one.

Oriole's opponent was nimble despite that huge minigun she was carrying, and managed to avoid the first burning tornado of death somehow and was now returning fire. She ducked behind a tree and waited for the rain of bullets to subside again. The tree was being torn apart by the minigun and was showering her with splinters. Oriole's opponent stepped closer and closer.

Mono felt like she was hit by a truck, she was winded and probably lost a fair bit of aura there. The kick was _extremely_ heavy, heavier than it should be. It was if the boy had weights on, but that couldn't be right with what how he seemed to be moving with no trouble at all.

Mono tucked herself in and rolled, springing back up to her feet just in time to see the boy barrelling her way, she raised Dancing Reaver just in time to block another heavy blow from his weapon, the ground around them cracked and she was forced to use a fair bit of her aura to reinforce her arms so that she didn't falter. The boy pressed down on his weapon and her arms flagging. There was a reason why she didn't use her sheath as a weapon, she needed both arms.

Oriole found herself in a tight bind as she couldn't move without getting peppered with bullets, the girl with the minigun was getting closer and closer and her bit of cover wasn't going to last any longer.

These opponents were poor matches for them as Mono's small form and agile strikes couldn't get past the boy's defense and his own strikes were too heavy for Mono to guard against, likewise, Oriole had little defense to block the onslaught of bullets, not to mention her ranged options were severely limited by the amount of Dust she was carrying.

(Speaking of ammo, how was her opponent be able to carry so much of it?)

Both of them were in tight positions. Only a miracle from above would save them now.

 **-/-/-**

Monty and his partner, Calypso Caspian, were travelling through the forest in relative silence. Both of them kept to themselves, and that was fine with Monty. The only person that he'd act so open to was to his cousin, Mono.

They had walked for a few more metres when gunshots suddenly sounded in the distance, the two were immediately alert, weapons out. Calypso turned to him with a silent question,

 _What do you think?_

Monty thought about it. If they stumbled upon two pairs fighting then they could swoop in and take both relics. Easy.

... No-one said anything about fair play.

He nodded his assent and the duo rushed into the forest, heading towards the source of the noise.

The default plan when setting an ambush was to stick to the shadows, wait for his signal before attacking. And that would've been the case if the fight they stumbled onto didn't involve a boy with a huge blade bearing down on Mono who was visibly struggling to keep it at bay, the blade inched closer and closer.

...

He had first met Mono when his father had taken him to visit his brother, Mono's father. He didn't even know his father had a brother nevermind Mono's existence.

The memories of that day were faded but he remembered that they were six at the time, just a year before the War's end. The few things he did remember was that his father was shouting. A lot. His father stomped out and disappeared for most of the day with Mono's father looking less than pleased. There was really nothing to do, so he talked to her.

It was small talk, at first, Mono was the one that had engaged most of the conversations while he responded with the occasional grunt to show that he was listening. His first instinct was to leave. But as time grew on, he started to listen and even replied to her. He allowed himself to open up to her.

A connection was formed. Strangers grew into acquaintances. Acquaintances into friends. Friends to best friends.

They had continued to visit over the course of several years but most of the time, his dad would be shouting at Mono's dad a lot. It eventually got to the point where they stopped visiting altogether and that hurt both of them. They still kept in contact through video and continued to talk.

That best friend bond had effectively transformed into a sibling relationship as they interacted with each other. Monty had admitted to himself that he always wanted a younger sibling and although Mono wasn't directly related to him but she was certainly the closest thing he had to a sister.

And since Mono was the closest thing he had to a younger sister, ("By like one month!"), it made sense that he had a brotherly instinct to protect her.

Monty leapt into the battle with a roar, his tonfas blazing.

 **-/-/-**

A miracle had arrived in the form of her cousin. He leapt down from the trees with a roar like a vengeful spirit, opening fire on the boy that was bearing down on her with the insanely large blade. The bullets hit home and with a grunt, the boy was forced to disengage before his aura could be depleted.

Her cousin stood up beside her, his tail whipping furiously behind him, "Late to the party?"

Mono let out a relieved sigh, "Just in time, brother of mine."

The two cousins stood together, Mono held her katana in front of her, the tip pointed towards the enemy while Monty got into a boxer's stance, gripping his tonfas tightly.

They _moved_.

The cousins had often sparred together whenever Monty had visited, granted, they weren't able to see each other much after their dads had stopped talking but they fought each often enough that they knew the cores of their style.

Monty went high, Mono went low. His tonfas were barely enough to block the large blade, reinforced steel grinding against each other and emitting sparks. These clashes wouldn't last long as immediately after, Mono would swipe at his legs forcing him to disengage and retreat. Together, they continued pushing him back.

Over on Oriole's side, the gunfire had stopped when another girl with brown hair done in a stylish french braid (Oriole approved) and thin plated armour had interrupted their battle, leaping in above and easily knocking the minigun girl away with a quick slice of her double-edged blade.

Oriole peeked around the tree as soon as the minigun stopped spinning and saw the girl, she got into a defensive stance and was prepared to fight back before the girl raised her hand,

"Calm down, I'm here to help you."

She raised an eyebrow, "Oh yeah? And who are you?"

The girl shuffled awkwardly, "My partner is a friend of your partner and he wanted us to assist you in battle."

Oriole took a moment to observe her, she wielded a double-edged blade with a revolver chamber, it most likely shifted into something else, thin armour with a black and dark blue colour scheme. Stance is confident, grip is strong but if she decided to stab her in the back once all of this was over, she could hold her own.

She grinned confidently, "I guess we can call a truce for now."

The girl inclined her head, "Agreed."

Oriole smirked and held up her war fan in a subtle but threatening gesture, "My name is Oriole, by the way."

The girl saw the gesture and twirled her blade in a circle, so this girl had a backbone. "Calypso."

Calypso and Oriole heard the minigun whirring up and threw themselves in different directions before the onslaught of bullets began once again. Calypso quickly responded by collapsing the blade into a revolver and returning fire which forced the girl to stop firing and take cover behind a nearby rock. The minigun girl folded the minigun into... a hammer? Okay, that was epic.

Oriole burst out from her hiding spot and leapt right into the girl's guard, she was not expecting it. Oriole sliced at the girl's chest with the bladed edge of her fan, making her stumble back, she finished off by launching her into the air using wind Dust from her fan. Calypso ran out, her revolver turning back into the double-edged blade and leapt up into with the intent on slamming her enemy down.

This was not to be, however, as the minigun-hammer girl righted herself in mid-air and saw Calypso approaching. She spun, using the hammerhead to build up momentum and allowed it to pull her out of the way, letting Calypso pass her harmlessly before slamming the hammer down on the girl like how Calypso intended.

Well, that was what should have happened.

Oriole swung her fan and a blast of wind shot out, pushing Calypso out of the way of the deadly hammer. She followed up by swinging her fan again but this time, small ice spikes formed before launching themselves at the girl. They hit their intended mark and once again, the girl was sent flying.

Back on Mono's side, the duo had successfully managed to subdue the boy through a combination of skill and teamwork. He didn't stand a chance against them when they were together and was now lying facedown with that weird shield-stasis thing surrounding him. They reached past the shield which let them by without any problems and took the relic from him.

"Man. I wish I was partnered up with you." Indeed, it would have been beneficial for them if they had paired up as they both knew each other well."

Mono shrugged, "We can't have it all."

"You can, I'm not taking this relic. We already have seven." Monty flicked the relic, a White Knight over at Mono who caught it.

"Seven?! We only have four." She hunched over, dejected.

Monty patted her head fondly, "You have five now."

There was the rustling of foliage behind them, they turned and saw Oriole emerging with a slightly scorched Calypso, who looked somewhat irked.

They quickly explained things. The minigun girl had been sent flying from the ice attack that Oriole had hit her with, Calypso had turned around and slammed her down with her double-edged blade before Oriole combined Fire and Wind again and launched it at the minigun girl while she was still down, the resulting conflagration was glorious (and she _MAY_ have burned down half of the forest) but unfortunately, Calypso hadn't been out of range.

Oriole sent a smirk at Calypso who seemed somewhat confused, probably social awkwardness striking again.

"So what happens now?" Oriole directed the question towards Monty who shrugged and looked at Mono, everyone else turned to stare at her as well.

Mono glanced around, "Why are you looking at me?"

Everyone shrugged, she sighed.

"We may as well stick together. Two heads are better than one."

"Isn't there a rule against teaming up?"

Oriole shook her head, "Remember what Professor Red told us? There are no rules."

Calypso shuffled in place and spoke up, "I... don't have any objections. We... work well together."

Mono nodded, "It's settled then."

Everyone nodded back and as one, the group fled the scene leaving their two opponents behind.

 **-/-/-**

 **DAY 3:**

The group awoke feeling refreshed. Since the duos have become a group, rest became easier since they could sleep longer and different people taking watch at different times meant that everyone could sleep evenly unlike the uneven schedule they had set as a duo.

They quickly set to work planning out the rest of their day,

"Ambushes, all day long."

Everyone groaned.

This day wasn't nearly as exciting as the previous day, all of the weaker pairs must have been picked off because only three had stumbled across their ambushes. If a duo could beat a single opponent than a group could easily beat down a duo. The relics were split, with Mono and Oriole gaining two leaving them at seven while Monty and Calypso got the last one, giving them eight.

Evidently, the students were thinning out. It was only the third day and already the encounter rate had dropped massively.

The group fought small packs of beowolves as they traversed the forest - which improved their overall teamwork and coordination and stopped at a nearby watering hole where animals would gather, this supplied them with the food and water for the day. Although Mono was traumatized at eating the poor Jade Deer, native only to the Emerald Forest.

Their next course of action was to set up around the watering hole and wait as it was bound to be visited by initiate pairs looking to fill their gullets with water. This proved true and was much more reliable then waiting in a random area and hoping for a pair to stumble into them, the chances were pretty low. The only reason why they worked in the first place was because there was a lot of initiates in the forest at the time. They had amassed another three relics using this method, this time, two were given to Monty and Calypso who proved invaluable in ambushes as her semblance allowed her to remain undetected by the enemy.

It was obvious how Monty and Calypso had gotten a lot of relics early on. Calypso did all the work ("Hey!").

 **-/-/-**

 **DAY 3 (NIGHT):**

Circumstances forced them to travel at night, the Grimm were extremely active and the group had found out that there was another group (not a pair, a group) in the area that hunted others during the night, they had a close shave with them earlier when both accidentally stumbled onto each other.

Mono's group were outclassed, they had a lady that was heavily armoured just like the boy from yesterday, the red-haired girl that Mono met, and there was also the giant who, coincidentally, Mono also met.

But the biggest threat had to have been the shirtless faunus whose name that Mono couldn't pronounce. He moved as if he belonged in the forest, the darkness was no hindrance for him and he easily matched them in combat. The only reason they had escaped was because Mono had managed to tag him with her semblance and send him flying with repulsion.

The hunters had become the hunted.

 **-/-/-**

 **DAY 4:**

She was sleep deprived, she was tired, she was low on aura and _everything_ ached. She was sure that the rest of her team felt the same way.

They had been forced to run all night with little to no sleep, paranoia at both the Grimm and the hunter group keeping them awake.

It was agreed that they were to use this day to rest and recover, they had a lot of relics so they could afford to take a small break. They were running low on ammo as well with only Mono being good to go as she rarely used her Dust, her skills with her blade having pulled her through. Since she wasn't using the Dust, she passed it around.

They slept most of the day away, waking up to go find food or water. Food was plentiful if you knew where to look, it was water that was the problem as the Emerald Forest only had a few watering holes. But retracing their footsteps lead them back to the watering hole they had used the previous day, they boiled the water and drank greedily.

The day was almost over, but the night was just beginning.

 **-/-/-**

 _..._

 _Ah..._

 _I..._

 _..._

 **-/-/-**

 **DAY 4 (NIGHT):**

It had taken them quite a while to find any initiate pairs and the pairs they found had not been pairs at all, but groups as well. They found one group near the cliffs which boxed them in, it was both a good move and a bad move. Good because it forced any attacking groups into a frontal assault and thus, they could defend against it. Bad because it had boxed them in. If it had been a live combat situation during the day then the group's chances of winning might have been questionable.

But alas, the exam was to survive, not win.

People fear the unknown. They are afraid of what lies in the dark. They are afraid of what they can't see or explain.

They struck in the cover of darkness, much like the group that had hunted them had. They had woken up in the middle of it as well but they were quickly shut down before they had any chance to strike back. Calypso had once again proven invaluable with her stealth semblance.

Calypso's semblance was basically misdirection, it could mute her presence or dull the enemy's awareness, either option worked as it helped her easily take out the person on guard duty. It was a pity that she couldn't extend this towards her teammates.

The night was going great until the Grimm started to show up, they must have been attracted by the slight fear when the initiate group was attacked, once again, they were very active and very plentiful. It only made sense that the creatures of darkness were empowered by the night. This Grimm horde seemed to be made up of many Creeps, about twenty or so and most of them young with some older Creeps scattered here and there. They were trapped between the cliff face and the Grimm horde, their only option was to fight their way out of it.

Monty glared at the approaching Grimm, "Any plans?"

Oriole pressed several Dust crystal into her fan, the edge of the fan glowed, "We'll fight it out."

Mono nodded, "Oriole will start us off. Calypso follows through. Monty and I will finish."

Both girls nodded. Oriole sprinted at the approaching mass of Grimm, in any other case, one might say it was insane to charge a pack like that but Oriole was best suited for confrontations like these. Her weapon looked unsuited for combat but in the hands of an extremely talented Dust user like Oriole meant that it was capable of decimating entire groups. Like for example, this horde of Grimm that stood in front of her.

Oriole stopped in front of the horde who eyed her hungrily, she smiled, "Now, now. Eyes on me, or you'll miss the show."

She grasped her fan and swung it, a firestorm erupting, the front lines of the Grimm horde crumbled to ash. She swung again, but instead of fire, lightning shot out and it crackled and sparked and bounced from one Grimm to another and they fell to the ground, twitching. As one, the Grimm howled and charged forward, wanting to rip the girl to shreds.

They never got the chance. As soon as Oriole's Dust attacks died out, Calypso rushed forward and swung her blade in a large arc, easily sheering through the Grimm. One of the more elder Creep had snuck up behind Calypso while she was dealing with the younger ones, it was taken out by a shot to the head, the mask of the Grimm breaking in half. It was taken out by Monty who looked like he had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. No-one paid any attention to him despite this, as if Calypso's semblance was active.

Monty suddenly spun around and took a page out of Mono's book, activating his semblance again, he 'snatched' the semblance of the nearest person, his cousin.

His semblance was fitting considering his klepto tendencies. **Snatch** allowed Monty to use the semblance of another person within the vicinity, and while most people would complain that this seemed to be overpowered. It really wasn't. For one, he had absolutely no training with the semblance he 'snatched' and any semblance he 'snatched' couldn't be used to its full potential, if he tried to use Mono's Attraction and Repulsion then the best he could do was two forces while Mono could do nearly ten of them. In addition, there was a time limit as to how long he could keep a semblance.

But even the bare minimum was enough in this case.

He leapt over one of the Creep, brushing his fingers across the smooth armour of the dark creature. The Grimm glowed black, if Monty remembered right, that was Negative. He landed on the other side, the Grimm turned and roared into his face.

He smirked and tagged Negative on his own body. Both forces repulsed each other and the Grimm was sent flying and knocked over several other Grimm,

"Strike!"

Mono watched this out of the corner of her eye and shook her head, exasperated. She turned to focus on the Grimm at hand. She drew both Dancing Reaver and the sheath (Did she mention the sheath was bladed?) she tagged Dancing Reaver as Negative, and the sheath as Positive, they glowed black and white respectively and already, Mono could feel the pull as both parts of her weapon attempted to come together.

She flung both weapons outwards, the pull from her semblance was making them come together but the momentum of their flight would separate them and force them to continue. This effectively turned them into a something like missiles that would slice through anything. The only Dust currently loaded in her katana or sheath was Magnetic, she had no elemental Dust for offensive maneuvers but despite this, they still performed their job well enough. The weapons returned to her waiting hands with a bit of aid from her Magnetic Dust and her semblance.

Their initial assault had severely crippled the horde, the only remaining Grimm were the elder ones who were already turning tail, they had obviously survived the years because they knew when they were in danger. The Grimm evolved and learned as easily as man did.

 _Now there's a scary thought._ Mono shuddered.

The night raid and the little fight with the Grimm had given them adrenaline, they were all jumpy and felt like they could take on even more enemies.

So Mono thought it was completely understandable that when the bush rustled, she accidentally threw Dancing Reaver at it. There was a yelp and a young woman leapt out of the bush, evidently not a student with how old she was. A Professor then?

"Hey! Watch where you're throwing that thing! Someone could get seriously hurt."

Mono had the decency to look embarrassed. "I'm sorry." The group took a closer look at the woman,

The group took a closer look at the woman,

The first thing that came to mind when regarding the woman was how _warm_ she felt, the feelings associated with home and safety came up to the front of their minds.

Indeed, the woman with long blonde curls that it almost looked white, felt like home. The woman straightened her black jacket, revealing that she was wearing a yellow top with her midriff exposed.

"It's fine! Accidents happen all the time. Speaking of which, did you happen to find any students that were downed around here?" The woman responded with an easy smile,

Oriole winked, "Yes. They're over by the cliffside, by the way, love the jacket."

"Awww. Thanks, sweetie. I hope I'll see you all in Beacon! If you do, don't hesitate to call Evelyn Yellow!" The woman, Evelyn, waved and _skipped_ to the cliffside

"..." Everyone (with the exception of Oriole) was left staring after her,

"... Yellow's a weird surname."

"And Red isn't?"

"She's weird."

"... All teachers in Beacon are weird."

 **-/-/-**

 _Ah..._

 _I..._

 _..._

 _I **Awaken**_

...

 **-/-/-**

 **DAY 5:**

Day Five. The last day they were all going to spend in this forest. The group had run into several other groups (There were no longer any pairs.) and at times, the fight had been pretty close but a combination of wit, skill and teamwork had enabled them to overpower the others. Two more relics were added to the collection, combined with the two relics from last night. Monty and Calypso now had twelve, while Mono and Oriole had eight.

It was an impressive number. They have to be one of the top teams.

There couldn't have been any more pairs left in the forest, it was decided that today, they would reach a higher vantage point to see if they can spot any more initiates or, if it came down to it, paint targets on their back and lead the enemies to them.

It worked. A little too well.

They had drawn the attention of one group, yes. But it was the same group that had hunted them during the night. They were formidable opponents, completely different from anyone they ever fought.

All of the other groups they had faced had been poorly organized, no coordination or teamwork whatsoever. This group was the opposite of that. They had plans, they covered each others backs and they were _good._

At night, both teams had been put at a disadvantage because of the night with the exception of the faunus who had night vision and could see perfectly well in the dark.

During the day, they were completely different. They no longer had anything holding them back and they fought for all they were worth.

Of course, Mono's group also no longer had any disadvantages holding them back either. So far, the clash was even but it was evident that the other team were superior because unlike Mono's team who was all purely offense, their team was well balanced.

The two biggest members of their group, the armoured lady and the giant acted as the shields. They took the brunt of their assault and struck back with heavy blows. The armoured lady's gigantic sword and the boy with geokinetic abilities, was it a semblance?

The red-haired girl supported from a range, her backpack contained... a lot of presents, literally, presents. Initially, they were small but they expanded when taken out despite the lack of mecha shift. And get this, these presents?

They were also bombs.

The presents exploded and scattered them, they couldn't group together or they would all be taken out.

When all of them scattered, the shirtless faunus moved like the wind. It was if he had trained in this forest his entire life - and he was dangerous. His weapon were clawed gauntlets, the tips gleaming dangerously. It was such a simple weapon but he used this to devastating effect, slowly wearing down the group.

This battle was not going in their favour at all.

 **-/-/-**

Somewhere far away, away from the kingdoms of man, there existed darkness. True darkness. The darkness was asleep but it grew more aware every day, its consciousness spreading out and touching every single darkness that was in existence right now.

The darkness smiled as it came into contact with four spectacular voids of pitch black. The darkness stirred. All of the Grimm roared.

 **-/-/-**

 **BEACON ACADEMY**

The man stood alone in his office, holding his cane. Until he felt _it._ Pulsing out from beyond and stretching all across Vale, across Remnant. He heard the Grimm howl. He heard the darkness awaken.

The gears beneath his feet were spinning away, the clock on his wall was ticking. Ticking down until the end.

The man's grip on his cane tightened, the knuckles going white. His eyes hardened and his lips were pressed into a thin line.

"It's coming."

 **-/-/-**

 **EMERALD FOREST**

Everyone froze when the Grimm of the Emerald Forest roared, the cacophony of noise awakened a primal fear in the hearts of everyone present.

"W-What..?" Mono was about to ask the question that was on everyone's minds but they never got the chance.

A screech filled the air. A terrible screech that turned the sparks of fear into a blaze of terror.

Everyone knew what the Creatures of Grimm were. Embodiments of darkness whose sole intent was to hunt all of mankind into extinction. These Grimm were mindless and reckless, they dove into battle without any care for the consequences. But there were Grimm that evolved, who _learned._ These Grimm were known as Alphas, they were much larger and deadlier, they learned how man fought, and this knowledge was used to become more efficient killers of man. And what was beyond an Alpha? Grimm that survived for hundreds of years were known as Ancients, massive in size, heavily armoured and very deadly, they had learned over the course of many centuries and the advised strategy was to run when an Ancient was spotted although Ancients were usually dormant.

So what was a Grimm beyond that of an Ancient? Something that has lived for thousands of years, something that has seen the rise and fall of kingdoms and even contributed to it. These Grimm were Legendary. Only ever seen during times of great negativity... which had happened recently.

The Great War. If Grimm were attracted to darkness and despair, then Legendary Grimm were attracted to only the purest darkness, the deepest hatred. The war was filled to the brink with all of this, every battlefield was ravaged by Grimm, in the end, there were no winners. Only darkness remained.

And it was during this Great War that four great darknesses emerged, everyone knew who they were, they were Rakknar the Harbinger, Tartarus the Ravager, Abbaddon of the Abyss and Behzar the Endsinger. They were beings so powerful that when one appeared, both sides had actually joined forces to try and take one of these monstrous beings down.

Noone succeeded. Noone survived.

The Great War was the longest war in Remnant's history, only going for three years. Yes, three years was the longest war in Remnant.

There had been other wars of course, but they had lasted only a year at most. After all, it was hard to keep a war going if the Grimm killed everything.

But there was no war. There was no huge negativity happening on Remnant... right?

So why was a Legendary Grimm here?

Why was Rakknar of One Thousand Birds and Painter of the Bloody Skies descending from the heavens?

* * *

 **OC LIST [IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE, NOT INCLUDING OLD OCs]:**

 **Gamma Black - PinwheelGrizzly and PinwheelGrizzly's sister**

 **Calypso Caspian - Wallflowerpower**

 **Oriole Glaive - ChillyIce**

 **(?) 'Racist bastard' - PinwheelGrizzly's sister**

 **(?) 'Hammer time girl' - PinwheelGrizzly's sister**

 **'Armoured Lady' - Another Generic Gamer**

 **'Red haired girl' - Saint Lake**

 **'Giant' - reven228**

 **Evelyn Yellow - PinwheelGrizzly's sister**

* * *

 **[NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE THE LAST CHAPTER FOR GENERATION I OCs, RIVALS/ANTIHEROES AND PROFESSORS WILL STILL BE ACCEPTED.]**

 **WHOOOO. It's done! And for anyone wondering, NO, the OCs will NOT be fighting Rakknar. If they fought Rakknar, then they would all die a terrible death.**

 **Also, remember when I said that Generation I had little plot? I lied. The plot may look like it's advancing fast, but it's not. I think.  
**

 **I'm not so sure how I do on the fight scenes, I did try to keep the RWBY feel to it though.**

 **I forgot to mention somewhere that the stasis-shield thingies activated fully after a certain time frame.**

 **The Legendary Grimm are well... legendary. They are massive. They are deadly. They are ruthless killers.**

 **Yes, aura reinforcement is a thing in RWBY.**

 **And two more professors have been introduced. As soon as the last member of the team is introduced, I'll post as much information as I can give you regarding them.**

 **Reviews are motivations. Favourites are as well!**

 **-PinwheelGrizzly**

 **Oh, and here're some extras to say I'm sorry.**

* * *

 **EXTRA:**

An initiate duo who was not important to the story and thus will not be named or described were making their way across the forest, having landed a while ago.

They got lucky when they stumbled across another initiate duo that was already weakened from battling Grimm, it was a simple matter of depleting their remaining aura which was easily done.

The weird shield things activated but they parted when he poked them, that was good enough for them. They quickly searched their enemy and discovered something interesting.

"Dude. They have three relics! Let's take all of them!"

His partner shuffled nervously, "I don't think that's a good idea bro, remember what the Professor said?"

'Bro' scoffed, "Pfft. As if they'll know if we take more than one. They're bluffing. It's all a lie to scare us."

The partner looked nervous, "But-" "Aha!"

'Bro' held up the three relics victoriously, "Success!" before he quickly looked around.

There were five tense seconds.

"See? I told you-"

He was interrupted by a beeping sound. The sound was coming from the relics. Both boys looked at the relics which were now glowing.

"... Bro?"

The relics exploded, their aura was depleted.

 **-/-/-**

Mono and Oriole quickly settled into a defensive stance when they heard an explosion,

"... What was that?"

In the distance, there was a mushroom cloud.

 **-/-/-**

Up on the cliffs, Vesuvius Red smirked, quite smugly if you asked anyone else.

* * *

 **[THIS EXTRA WAS INSPIRED BY RESHUFFLE'S FANFIC, AUTUMN DAYS. IT'S A RUBY GAMER FIC AND I SUGGEST YOU ALL CHECK IT OUT. CHAPTER 7 OF AUTUMN DAYS EXPLAINS EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS EXTRA.]**

 **EXTRA** **:**

Aura. Aura is the manifestation of one's soul, it bears their burdens and shields their hearts. It was their very life. All living things had an aura, plants, animals, people. Everything except for the creatures of Grimm for they have no soul.

How does one go about activating their Aura? An Aura can be activated in times of extreme need or it can be unlocked by someone, there has been no difference observed between an awakened Aura and an unlocked one.

 **-/-/-**

Mono Chrome was staring into the kind and gentle eyes of Mana Chrome,

"Now dear, I want you to focus on me."

She nodded obediently, staring into the steel gray of her mother's eyes.

Her mother took a deep breath and put a hand on her forehead.

 **-/-/-**

 _Mono Chrome found herself in the dark, yet she was not afraid._

 **'Child from Dust, unaware of duty, what is your greatest desire?'**

 _Mono Chrome paused, what did she want? She wanted..._

 _'Equality. For everyone. There will be no more hate between the_ faunus _and the humans, there will be no more war'_

 **'You desire a happy ending?'**

 _'Yes.'_

 **'...'**

 **'Child of Man, taken by hopelessness, what is your greatest fear?'**

 _Mono Chrome blinked, momentarily taken aback. What did she fear? She feared..._

 _'Being abandoned... Being left behind... I... I don't want to be left behind... ever again..'_

 ** _'You fear being left alone in the dark?'_**

 _'... Yes.'_

 **'...'**

 **'Child of Remnant, pure light, for what reason do you fight?**

 _Mono Chrome didn't take long to answer this. She fought because..._

 _'I want to change the world! I want equality for the faunus! I want peace! I fight because no-one else wants to!'_

 **'Is that what you truly desire?'**

 _'Yes.'_

 **'...'**

 **'Children of Hope, the next generation, what is your name?'**

 _And suddenly, Mono Chrome found herself surrounded by unfamiliar faces, yet she somehow knew them. That was because..._

 _'We are...'_

 **-/-/-**

 _'For it is our will that drives us to do the impossible, rising up to do what needs to be done, pushing past the brink of despair. An impossible barrier broken by endless determination, the sign of a new beginning in an ever-changing world; With my power, I release your soul and with my will, aid thee.'_

* * *

 **Next time, on Generations, Chapter 4...**

 **'The Harbinger'**

 _... Mono Chrome rolled away from the line of fire, the feathers spearing into the ground and sticking upright. Across from her, Oriole was deflecting most of the feathers with her giant fan, blasting wind at the feathers and at the Grimm._

 _Behind her, Monty and Calypso were firing upon the giant bird but their attacks seemed to do little to it._

 _Further behind Monty and Calypso, the other initiates stood, their weapons out and ready..._


	5. Generation I : Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own RWBY, RWBY belongs to RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum. I do not own any of the OCs here other than the ones I create and Mono Chrome.**

 _I recommend checking out ' **Usagi** ' by Yggdra. It's a _self-insert _into the RWBY world, but it's well done from what I've seen so far. Self-Inserts are rare in the RWBY fandom and this one doesn't disappoint at all. It's well crafted from what I've seen so far. Definitely better than my story so I recommend you go check it out!_

 _Oh, it's also a_ faunus _self-insert._

 **!IMPORTANT NOTE FROM SISTER [30/03/2016 - 31/03/2016]!  
** _Hello. I'm PinwheelGrizzly's sister. I'm here to tell you that Pinwheel suffered from a severe allergic reaction which developed into mild anaphylaxis and was taken to the hospital, but don't worry, he's fine now. He's currently in Observation and will most likely not be discharged for a while so he wanted me to post this chapter as a part 1 and stated, in his own words, 'I'll feel bad if I don't give you something. Also, I find it ironic how I'm going through an allergic reaction while working on a RWBY project.'_

 _He also says he'll make up for it in Part 2 and in future chapters. Part 2 was yet to be finished at the time but it is close to completion and is expected to be released the moment Pinwheel returns to the computer._

 _He also says he has a new beta reader. Welcome, **Alien and Wolfie**._

 _I will be answering any questions in lieu of Pinwheel's absence._

 **THIS IS NOT AN APRIL FOOL'S PRANK.**

 _Enjoy._

 _-Sister_

* * *

 **-/-/-**

 **GENERATION I : CHAPTER 4**

 **'The Harbinger : PART I'**

 **-/-/-**

Rakknar the Harbinger. One of the four legendary Grimm of Remnant and an absolute terror during The Great War. A gigantic Nevermore, easily four times the size of a regular fully grown one and a wingspan that was nearly double its size. It had ruled the skies, destroying airships with impunity and bathing the land down below with its fatal feathers which were double an average person's height. The sheer size of the feathers combined with being launched and falling from a high altitude meant that they didn't act like spears; they acted like bombs.

It made its debut during the third and final year of The Great War alongside the other three legends—The Siege of Fort Castle, to be exact. After General Lagune's failed offensive, the humans had quickly launched another operation and this time, they did it during daylight having learnt their lesson the first time around. The faunus were expecting another attack and had raised the fort's defenses which resulted in a long and drawn out siege which quickly took its toll on both the humans and the faunus. A siege spanning nearly three months, and in those three months, negativity ran rampant.

Rakknar descended unto humanity for the first time during the last hour of the siege. According to history, it descended from the cloud layer with a screech that echoed across the land along with a thousand birds. The two armies had actually banded together to try and face this monstrosity of a Grimm but it did nothing; it didn't even delay the inevitable.

Rakknar's feather spears easily shredded through both armies and reduced Fort Castle to nothing but rubble. Airships fell beneath its might and the Siege of Fort Castle ended with no victor, only losers.

After the war's end, Rakknar was said to have disappeared into the stratosphere and was never seen again.

 **-/-/-**

 _'... Until now, that is.'_

Vesuvius Red, a professor at Beacon Academy and leader of the (first) 'coolest team to ever graduate Beacon' was staring at the sky. Staring at the thing that blotted out the sun and plunged the land around it into darkness. He could see the local wildlife running, fleeing from something that would be akin to a god.

 _The children._

His lips narrowed into a thin line. He wanted nothing more than to burn that 'god' into ash. He wanted to stomp on it and spit on it. He wanted to tear it into bloody pieces.

 _To protect the children._

Instead, he pulled out his scroll and dialed every member of his team. Everyone picked up instantly.

 _"Vesuvius. That's—_ "

"Rakknar. I know." He glared at the Grimm which hovered there, its mighty wings kept it aloft. The trees around the Giant Nevermore were being buffeted by the Grimm's wingbeat.

 _"What do you propose we do?"_ Gamma asked, his voice clipped and strained.

He took a moment to arrange his thoughts. Professor, badass and team leader, he may be but even he doubted his chances against this legend.

"We can't fight that thing." He finally said after a moment of silence., "To be honest, I don't know how long we can last against something like that but we're the first to respond, right?"

Gamma nodded, "The Valean Military and other Huntsmen forces are mobilizing but I doubt they'll get here in time."

His kept one eye on Rakknar, the other on the children having spotted them earlier. Rakknar wasn't moving. "Khione, how fast can you get here?"

 _"Three minutes."_ The usual cold tone was lost as a forced one took its place.

"Good enough. Evelyn, you keep the children safe. Gamma and I will take on the big one."

 _"Roger that, boss."_ She replied, falling back into the habit of calling him boss.

Vesuvius breathed in and closed his eyes. It had been awhile since they had all worked together like this.

"Alright team, let's roll out!"

 _'Yes, sir!'_

 **-/-/-**

Mono Chrome stood in the shadow of the colossus. She stared up at the thing that could end their lives in an instant and she heard the thud of someone falling to their knees. She couldn't blame them.

The air was thick with **it** as if the thing above them was the source. What was **it**?

 _'its hopeless' 'it hurts' 'i hate you' 'its no use' 'give up'_

 _'giveupgiveupgiveupjustliedownanddiealready'_

It felt like hate, pain, anger and despair.

It was negativity.

Thousands and thousands of years of it and only a fraction of it was crashing down upon them yet it was enough to make them tremble.

She distantly wondered if she remembered to call her mother.

All of them stood there, frozen like deer caught in a headlight. They stood as still as statues. No-one dared to even breathe as if the slightest movement might set off the vengeful god hovering above them.

That moment broke when the god above _screeched_. Everyone covered their ears in pain. For the humans, it felt like broken glass scratching and tearing the insides of their ears. If that was what it felt like for the humans then it was _much_ worse for the faunus. Forget broken glass, it was like magma for them.

Oriole stumbled upright, her ear still ringing, she felt dizzy and she couldn't hear anything, even the screeching of the bird was dulled. Mono was still on the ground writhing in pain, as was Monty and the shirtless faunus from the other team. It didn't look like they could fight anytime soon.

 _'Alright... just calm down... Focus on your breathing...'_

She took a breath.

 _In. Out. In. Outinoutinoutin—_

Rakknar screeched again and Oriole's breath caught in her throat.

All of the humans waited with bated breaths as Rakknar spread its wings and globs of darkness dripped down, it looked gooey and some globs coalesced together to form a larger glob. In the end, three globs of darkness hung in the air; one of them was significantly bigger than the others.

Then they changed, the globs hissed and let out some sort of vapor and hiding it from view.

And then what happened next probably broke everyone.

Because Rakknar flapped its enormous wings once; then twice and three times — a furious gale hitting them before — it ascended back up into the clouds and quickly disappeared from sight.

 _It let them live._

A giant Grimm like Rakknar could easily kill everyone here and raze the forest around them until it was nothing but ashes, it could do it as easily as taking candy from a baby, yet it still didn't attack.

 _Why?_

But there was no time to dwell on it as they weren't out of the clear just yet. At that moment more screeches sounded out from the black miasma still hanging in the air; out of the black haze, two small Nevermore and one giant one had flown out and were now circling the area in which the students stood. They quickly spotted the students that were to be their first prey.

Okay. Two small Nevermore? They could take them.

One giant Nevermore? If everyone worked together then they stand a chance.

But two small Nevermore flanked by one giant Nevermore? Questionable.

And their chances were even lower right now as the faunus had yet to recover from that ear-splitting shriek.

The humans watched and gripped their weapons tightly, preparing to fight as the avian Grimm drew closer and closer.

 **-/-/-**

 _ **...**_

 ** _Are you ready to play, Ozpin?_**

 **-/-/-**

Their saving grace came in the form of a lightning bolt wreathed in flames. It descended from the heavens and slammed into the giant Nevermore causing it to screech in pain and wobble off course. The two smaller Nevermore released similar cries as they were hit by the sparks that jumped from their larger counterpart.

 _What—_

 _"Is everyone alright?"_

The voice sounded muted as Oriole's ears had yet to finish ringing but it sounded like Professor R—

One of the small Nevermore flapped their wings and a volley of feathers rained down, the tips gleaming and a desire to spill their blood. Everyone braced themselves for the barrage but the feather-like spears never touched them as they were intercepted by a torrent of- _are those laser beams?!_

Professor Yellow appeared next to Mono. Orbs of light drifted above the blonde professor's head; they continued to fire beams of light at the Nevermore and scattering them as the professor crouched down to check on her faunus partner.

Professor Red stood protectively in front of them with Professor Black at his side.

 _"Children. We'll handle this, so please step back."_

 **-/-/-**

 _..._

 _Let the games begin, *****_

 **-/-/-**

Vesuvius stood protectively in front of the group of initiates and glared at the Nevermore that dared to threaten the future generation. His scroll buzzed in his hand and he sneaked a glance at it.

 _'I'm in position ~ K'_

 _Good._

The red-haired professor spoke up, his voice filled with reassurance. "Children. We'll handle this, so please step back."

The Nevermore were regrouping now. Luckily, there wasn't a flock of them but the big one could be a problem. Gamma's hand sparked as he continued to observe the Giant Nevermore. It wasn't exactly your average Grimm as it had taken the brunt of their collaboration technique and was still standing which was quite worrisome. A normal Nevermore would have been fried.

Still... He saw it screech in pain earlier. Which meant that it could still be hurt, which meant that it could still burn.

He raised his hand with the palm facing skywards. A small fireball flared into existence. It burned hungrily as it continued to grow and the oxygen was sucked in to fuel the hungry flame.

Oh, how he missed doing this. Teaching wasn't as nearly as fun as the hunt.

He leaned back and threw the fireball towards the Giant Nevermore like a pitcher would a baseball.

There was an echo of a shot in the distance and soon, a white stream of light impacted the fireball as it was flying towards the Nevermore. The fireball turned blue and hissed, emitting steam.

 _Nice shot. As expected of you, Khione._

What he didn't expect after that, however, was for the student with a giant fan to take the initiative. The golden girl swung her war fan and a vortex of wind blew out and further increased the fireball's strength.

The attack hit its mark and exploded into a brilliant blue conflagration. Blue fire smoldered on the wings of the Giant Grimm as it shrieked and lost altitude, wavering unsteadily before it turned tail and flew away as it screeched.

Evelyn whistled appreciatively. Gamma raised one eyebrow.

 _'Not bad. ~ K'_

Vesuvius stared at the girl in surprise who glared defiantly at him.

"Sir. We can handle the smaller ones, go after the bigger one!"

She stamped her foot as if to emphasize her point. Vesuvius would have found it cute.

"We're going to be huntsmen and huntresses one day. It's our job to protect this world and we're going to do it right!"

Even so, he found the corner of his mouth twitching.

He saw the initiates straighten up at the girl's words, eyes alight with determination. The faunus were still dizzy but even they looked tall and proud. He didn't see children. He saw warriors, future huntsmen and huntresses.

 _The next generation, huh?_

"Right." He clapped his hand together.

"We'll leave it to you then."

 **-/-/-**

Mono had to admit. She was impressed with her partner. She had single-handedly assisted the professors in driving away one of the tougher Grimm and restored morale to everyone here. She was good.

Although, knowing her partner now. She probably didn't plan any of that and spoke what she truly felt. That's what Mono liked about Oriole. She was bubbly, optimistic and a bit shallow at times but she was honest.

Despite feeling disoriented and weak-kneed, she found it in herself to stalk over to Oriole's side. The professors had disappeared, following the trail of the larger Grimm. It was weakened so they could take it on easily and hopefully, be back here to assist with the smaller Nevermore.

Oriole kept her eyes on the smaller Nevermore which were aimlessly wheeling around. Her eyes flickered to Mono before they locked back onto the Grimm. Monty and Calypso had also walked up, their weapons locked and loaded.

"Any plans?"

Mono hummed and turned to face the other team of initiates. "I suppose it's a truce for now?" She tried weakly.

The shirtless faunus, Eše'hȯhme'ehne, snorted, the giant looked amused (Mono thought.) and the armoured lady didn't react at all while the red-haired girl smiled. Despite the obviously scary incident that happened earlier, she didn't look shaken at all.

"It would be an honour to work alongside you."

The twin Nevermore screeched as they circled back around, their beady red eyes focused on the students below.

"Here they come!"

One of the Nevermore flew overhead, ignoring Mono and her team completely and momentarily covering them in its shadow. The other hovered and released its payload of fatal feathers.

Mono Chrome rolled away from the line of fire, the feathers spearing into the ground and sticking upright. Across from her, Oriole was deflecting most of the feathers with her giant fan and occasionally blasting wind at the Nevermore. Calypso and Monty were taking cover behind Oriole's fan and sticking out to return fire but it appeared to do succeed in only angering the Grimm even further.

Judging by the sounds of explosions behind her, the other team had engaged the other Nevermore and were keeping it off their backs for now.

Which left Team Mono to deal with the one in front of them. They readied their weapons in anticipation but before they could do anything...

"YAHOO!"

A black and brown streak had suddenly appeared and slammed into the Nevermore's face. If Mono didn't know any better then she'd say the expression on the avian Grimm's face was definitely a _'WTF?!'_

The streak suddenly sharpened into detail, a girl with brown hair and a purple highlight, black leather jacket flapping in the wind and sky blue eyes lit up in wild anticipation.

Oh. And her foot was currently stuck in the Grimm's beak.

The girl grinned and twisted, her other foot streaking up and slamming into the Grimm's beak again. Her boots flared with light and she launched herself away from the Nevermore which flailed wildly in the air but there was no visible damage.

The wild girl flipped in mid air (Which Mono thought was totally unnecessary) and blurred into non-detail again. She streaked towards the ground. At a very fast speed.

The blur landed amidst another group. A boy with a really bright cyan hoodie and equally bright hair was flinging fireballs from his naginata at the Nevermore attacking Mono and momentarily driving it off.

"Yo." A faunus - presumably an aquatic one as Mono could smell the sea on him - winked chummily at them with his bright yellow eyes. His trident was resting casually against his shoulder and his short jet black hair was swept to the side. "Looked like you needed help."

"No. It's not like they couldn't have handled it themselves." The cyan-haired one stated almost like a fact.

Monty twitched.

"Pipe down Pinky." The girl punched 'Pinky' in the arm. What was ironic about that sentence was the fact the girl who said it had pink hair. Actually, it was more like a mane. Thick, wiry locks of pink hair rolled down the girl's back.

"It's Pinku."

"Whatever." The pink-haired girl waved him off.

"Guys...?" Calypso muttered uneasily, holding up her revolver and pointing it at the Nevermore which was flying directly at them. Everyone ignored her.

The aquatic faunus winked at Mono although not in a flirtatious way, "Don't worry. I've killed sea Grimm bigger than that. Just lemme- OH OUM!"

Everyone dived for cover as the Nevermore swooped low and almost shredded Monty's tail with its lethal talons.

"BAD BIRDIE!" 'Pinky' screeched as he ran away from the Nevermore currently chasing him.

"LESS TALKING, MORE FIGHTING!" The pink-haired girl leapt up and slammed her fist which was glowing with a strange light into the Nevermore's mask which made it crash into the ground, screeching its fury.

Everyone was quick to take advantage of the pink brawler's opening.

The cyan boy spun his naginata around and pointed it at the Nevermore, the blade of his weapon glowed before white hot flames belched out and surrounded the Nevermore in a fiery prison.

Oriole was quick to follow up, using her wind to amplify the flames like she had done so many times before. The temperature quickly rose to uncomfortable levels. Inside its fiery prison, the Nevermore expressed its anger by unleashing feathers through the wall of flames.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Monty barely ducked underneath a flaming feather. "It's still alive?!"

Mono deflected a feather with the katana part of Dancing Reaver and quickly turned to the wild girl on the other team. "From what I've seen, you have a speed semblance?"

The girl nodded, "It allows me to accelerate objects but their mass stays the same."

"Good enough." She snatched the girl's hand and dragged her over to Oriole, ducking and weaving around the feathers. "Oriole!" Mono quickly called out.

The golden girl — who was a distance away from them — slammed her open war fan into the ground to act as a shield and turned questioningly to her partner.

"Up!" Mono quickly dragged the wild girl in front of her. Oriole's eyes lit up in understanding.

"Sorry about this, but finish it off please!"

"Huh?" The girl blinked before realisation sunk in, "W-Wait a seco- AH!"

She didn't get a chance to protest as Mono had suddenly launched her forward using her semblance before tagging herself on and following. The girl stumbled and quickly got her feet under her as she hit the ground running, using her own semblance to further increase her speed despite Mono hanging on. Oriole quickly grasped her fan and blasted a gust of wind at the feathers which gave her a moment's respite. She then planted her fan on the ground again but this time, it was angled like a ramp. The girl and her cat partner hit the fan and shot into the air just above the Nevermore.

Everyone quickly realised the plan and scrambled to get out of the way.

But of course, things had to go wrong just then.

The prison of fire was starting to die down, the Nevermore spread its wings and tried to take off to escape the dying flames.

The aquatic faunus noticed this and quickly took action, "Not on my watch!" He twisted the tip of his trident and pointed it towards the Grimm. The prongs of the trident twisted to form an opening and a net was launched from it which quickly entangled the Nevermore's left wing.

"Oh, dear Oum." The aquatic faunus muttered before he was almost dragged off his feet. The pink brawler quickly came to his aid, her muscular frame towering over the aquatic faunus.

Monty had snatched Mono's semblance earlier and used it to pin the Nevermore's other wing down onto the ground while Calypso had stabbed her sword through the wing entangled within the net.

Up in the air, the girl had reached the height of her ascent and was now falling back down towards the earth.

"Again! Sorry!" Mono quickly apologised, manoeuvring herself in front of the girl and planting her palm on the girl's chest.

"Oh, not agaaiiNNNN—"

The cat faunus used her semblance to repulse herself off of the wild girl who quickly flew back into the air. Mono righted herself and grasped Dancing Reaver with both hands and aimed it downwards.

"HAAAAHH!"

She came down from the heavens like a bolt of lightning, her grey hair lashing about wildly and a feral look on her face. Her blade stabbed into the Grimm's neck and the amount of force easily meant it easily went through to the other side. There was a spray of blood.

The Nevermore tried to screech but it came out as a pathetic gurgle. It thrashed once before falling limp.

Everything (except the other team fighting) was silent.

Monty whistled from his spot on the wing which was now melting away. "Wow, sis.."

Mono tugged at her blade.

"... Guys? I think it's stuck."

* * *

 _Like, favourite, review. I don't know what to put here._

 _~ Sister_


	6. Generation I : Chapter 5

_I'm back._

 **DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN RWBY, RWBY IS OWNED BY ROOSTERTEEH AND MONTY OUM. I ONLY OWN THE OCS CREATED BY ME.**

* * *

 **-/-/-**

 **GENERATION I : CHAPTER 5**

 **'The Harbinger : PART II'**

 **-/-/-**

Harbinger

har·bin·ger

 _noun_

A person or thing that foreshadows a future event; an omen; a sign.

 _..._

 _So if Rakknar was the Harbinger..._

 _What was he heralding?_

 **-/-/-**

Vale Military Headquarters was in a state of absolute anarchy. Everyone rushed about like headless chickens — operators were screaming into their comms and a sense of panic was in the air. A Grimm so powerful that it could not be ranked had turned this disciplined facility into a mess and Commander Rosaline Thorne was no different — years of experience in the field but even she had yet to face a threat like this.

A giant screen displayed the location where Rakknar had been sighted. The operators typed furiously and the scans yielded no results. The commander paced up and down, her agitation easily noticeable.

"What do you mean it's missing?!" The magenta-haired commander all but snarled into her radio.

The poor soldier on the other end of the radio who unfortunately happened to be the current victim of her ire stuttered. _"A-Apologies ma'am b-but visual contact with the target has been lost and—"_

"HOW CAN YOU LOSE SOMETHING LIKE THAT?! IT'S OUM-DAMNED HUGE!"

 _"S-Scanners are showing—"_

"SHUT UP AND FIND IT!" The commander all but roared into the radio. Promises of a _very very_ painful punishment if they didn't find it evident in her tone.

The soldier on the other end of the radio flinched. Oh, he had heard of the commander and her famed temper — it and her title were almost legendary amongst the grunts of the military. "R-Right away ma'am!"

He almost dropped the radio when he clipped it back onto his belt. He stood at the entrance to the Emerald Forest — behind him, men were hastily constructing a forward operating base; orders were being shouted, soldiers running from one end of the camp to the other.

His partner shot him a sympathetic look. "Got yelled at again?"

The soldier chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head sheepishly, his black hair being ruffled by the breeze. His armour shone white and looked like it had never seen combat before. The black image of the Vale Military Defence Force was displayed proudly on the chest plate and on his shoulder was the insignia marking his rank — Private.

His fellow soldier winced. "Not that I can blame them..." The soldier kicked at a nearby stone, sending it skidding into the trees. "Do you believe it, Port?"

Private Peter Port shook his head. "Rakknar? No... but it would make one hell of a story!"

 **-/-/-**

Team Mono and companions had managed to take down their Nevermore with little trouble. The same couldn't be said for the other group of initiates.

Unlike their fellow initiates, they lacked a decent range choice with the only reliable alternative being Olive the Earthbender (he was quite a big fellow). Their only option was to avoid the feathers and strike when the Nevermore swooped in to use its talons.

And to make matters worse; one of their members had a phobia for Nevermore.

Schwarz the armoured girl shook her head. "I can't!" Her eyes locked onto the form of the flying Grimm above them and she started to hyperventilate.

Her phobia had kicked in the minute she saw Rakknar. All of her strength; all of her confidence. It was stripped away and laid bare against the might of the shadow looming above her.

Eve, the red-haired one tried to soothe her. "It's alright. Just take a deep breath and—"

A screech to their right.

Oh yeah. They were still in a fight.

The Christmas themed girl tackled Schwarz out of the way (which isn't exactly an easy task) and tossed a gift bomb over her shoulder. An explosion followed by a loud screech informed her of her success.

The Nevermore's wing smoked from the girl's lucky attack — Olive quickly used his limited geokinetic abilities to slam rocks into the Grimm's other wing where it broke with a nasty crack. The Nevermore shrieked its fury.

Eše'hȯhme'ehne sensing weakness had leapt up onto the Grimm's mask where he snarled; an inhuman sound, the tips of his claws glinted dangerously before he proceeded to maul it.

A standard tactic. Clip the Nevermore's wings before taking it out, everyone knew this.

The mask quickly gave way under Eše'hȯhme'ehne's ferocious clawing. Bone shards flew which was quickly replaced with Grimm blood and the sound of the Nevermore's final screams.

A lucky opportunity. Not as dramatic as Team Mono but it got the job done. Fights weren't just about flashy effects and sword measuring competitions — it was about luck and opportunities; if you messed up then you were done for.

Eve's shot counted as lucky.

Eše'hȯhme'ehne leapt off the Grimm's slowly dissolving carcass. He was covered in the Nevermore's blood which was also slowly disappearing and meandered his way over to the rest of his pack.

The jaguar faunus stared blankly at his packmate (she was covered in her insecurities. She wore it like armour) who was being calmed by the one that was so serene.

He didn't like it how Schwarz leaned on Eve for support — she should stand on her own two feet.

But surviving together in the wild like this; he had to admit, she had a small bit of carnivore inside her as well.

And the giant Olive hovered over the group like a silent guardian. His presence was a subtle comfort to all in the vicinity.

A little bumps in the road but there were makings of a team if one looked hard enough.

 **-/-/-**

 **EARLIER...**

The Forward Operating Base had been successfully established and the men were organizing themselves into squads. Soon, search patterns would commence and the entire forest would be swept for anything that would help locate Rakknar.

The captain stood in front of the entrance to the forest.

 _'The Emerald Forest was said to be a beautiful place during Winter.'_ He mused.

Indeed, while Forever Fall would stand above the Emerald Forest with its blood red leaves — he Emerald Forest was beautiful during the Winter season. The morning dew would collect on the trees and when the sun rose to bask the land beneath it in its warm glow — the sun's rays would hit the dew and make the forest sparkle like stars in heaven. Like shimmering emeralds.

It was a beautiful sight, and one had to get up before sunrise if they wished to see this magnificent spectacle. Perhaps one day, he would take his family to see it.

 _'But for now...'_

"Sir!"

He could hear the sound of boots crunching on leaves as the soldier approached him.

The captain resisted the urge to sigh.

 _'Duty calls.'_

"Yes, Trooper?" The captain called without turning around, instead looking deep into the depths of the forest.

"There's a report from HQ! It is as we feared, sir. A crucible is forming in the Emerald Forest, we believe it was formed due to the amount of negativity that the Harbinger generated, sir."

The captain pressed his lips together. This was bad.

A crucible — also known as a crucible of madness or pit of madness — was something that had been discovered during the second year of the Great War. After the disastrous landing at Cape Nazca, better known to everyone — faunus or human — as the Massacre at Sea. Cape Nazca had been located to the north-west of the continent of Vale, had the humans succeeded taking the Cape then they would have had complete control over the Valean seas which was something they couldn't afford to allow their enemy to contnieu holding and so the elite troops of the Atlas Special Forces had attempted a landing during the cover of darkness.

No-one really knows why they attempted to land during the dark, perhaps an incompetent general had been leading them similar to General Lagune's failure in the third year of the war but this was what happened either way.

The ASF had been greeted with ridiculous resistance. The miscommunication among the higher ranks resulted in the ASF's formations being scattered, not to mention the faunus having the terrain advantage and as the bullets rained down from the cliffs above, the men were forced to dig trenches along the shoreline. With the sea behind them and the daunting cliff face full that was spraying death at them, they were trapped with no escape.

Thus began the Massacre at Sea. Many brave souls had perished that day and the seas were said to have been permanently coloured red.

Atlas had never gotten over their animosity towards the faunus after the Great War for what happened at Cape Nazca. Whether they were stubborn or just plain old fatheaded was unknown to the captain. It was fact that the faunus had suffered even more losses than the Atlas Special Forces and the entirety of the human army combined. It was why winged faunus were almost extinct actually.

What had happened after the battle had been of concern to the world's leading scientists at the time. The resulting negativity after the massacred had been so great, so powerful that it had remained and stubbornly refused to dissipate; reports from the faunus army had said that the despair and fear of the ASF had actually been visible and it had taken shape as Grimm.

The men of the Atlas Special Forces had taken their revenge that day. Not as a man but as the creatures of darkness.

 _And if a crucible was forming in the Emerald Forest..._

Once again, this was bad. Very bad. There was no telling how strong the crucible would be or how long it would last. The best they could do was—

"Oh. And there are some students in the forest too." The soldier tossed out casually as if it was nothing more than a small concern.

... What.

The captain realised he had spoken that last bit aloud.

"Well, sir. Beacon Academy for Trainee Huntsman and Huntresses had their initiation exam today... which was taking place in the Emerald Forest... which is where the crucible is forming."

The captain felt a headache begin to form. He let out an explosive sigh and massaged his temple allowing himself a moment of unprofessionalism, there was only one soldier around to watch him and he trusted him not to blab to the others. Extracting the students would be top priority then.

Extracting the students would be top priority then. The captain mentally went through his list of available men because a captain was expected to know the name and face of every soldier under his command — after all, they trusted their lives to him.

He spoke up, his voice unconsciously making the soldier behind him straighten his back, despite the fact that there was only one soldier around to listen to anything at all. "Get me Squads One to Three, take one of the Bullheads we used to get here and find those students. As soldiers, we have a duty to accomplish and that is to save them. Is that clear?"

"Sir! Yes, sir!" The Vale Trooper snapped a salute before running off to follow his commands.

The captain rubbed the bridge of his nose. How did his job get so complicated so quickly?

 **-/-/-**

Things went south faster than Mono could blink.

The catgirl didn't even know how it happened. One minute, they were all celebrating defeating two Nevermore and the next they were now surrounded by Grimm of all kinds, Creeps, Griffons and Ursa Minor — it was like an assorted jar of candy

And all of this before they even officially entered the school.

(Her mother was going to have a heart attack.)

"Here kitty, kitty." A nervous voice to her right.

 _'Kitty?'_

And for a tiny moment, Mono had just assumed that the voice next to her was insulting her faunus heritage as every time she heard something related to a feline, she would automatically assume that they were insulting her.

Such was the depth of the faunus-human hatred. Where one got so used to the insults that they automatically assume every insult related to an animal would be referring to them which was true in a sense.

Back to the situation at hand, a massive feline Grimm stood in front of her blood brother who was nervously backing away from it — moving slowly so as to not set it off.

The creature stalked forward on four powerful legs — almost in a lazy and mocking manner — the muscles rippling as it moved, the tail dragging behind it. The bone white armour platings on its back and along its side had red splash markings that made it eerily look like blood which set everyone on edge. The customary mask of the Grimm covered the upper half of its face and its eyes glowing a menacing scarlet red.

But the most distinguishing feature of this Grimm was the fangs. The elongated canines extending down from the mouth looked like it could pierce through the toughest of steel.

 _'A Sabertooth!'_

Mono had read about these ferocious creatures in books. Terrifying monsters that could rip apart entire hunter teams when fully grown and she knew that she did _not_ want to be on the receiving end of that bite — those pointy ends looked sharp.

As luck would have it, this Sabertooth wasn't fully matured, evident by its size. A fully grown Sabertooth would've been the size of an Ursa Major while this one reached Mono's chest.

(Which actually meant something. Mono wasn't exactly the tallest person around.)

But one thing to note about Sabertooth was that they were _pack leaders_ and this Sabertooth — definitely — had a pack. There were three of them and they could only be described as mini-Sabertooths.

They were called Xbalanques — Xbals for short. It was half the size of the Sabertooh, a testament to how young this pack is, and its jet black hide had little armour with the only remotely armoured part of the Grimm was the tail — completely armoured and spiked tail, that is. What was odd about the Grimm was that it had no mask and the eyes were a glaring yellow instead of the dangerous red that people usually see on a Grimm.

Scientists had often theorized that the Sabertooth was the evolved form of the Xbalanque which was supported due to the fact the Sabertooths often lead packs of Xbalanques.

The three Xbalanque circled the group of initiates like how a wolf pack stalks its prey, the long bone protrusions that resembled claws digging into the dirt. The other Grimm stood opposite of the cliff edge, facing the students and stayed well away from the feline pack.

"Okay... It's cool... We can handle these guys... right?" Oriole stammered apprehensively as she held her folded up war fan in front of her, swinging it at any Grimm that would get too close.

"Good kitty... Nice kitty..." Monty laughed nervously as the Sabertooth continued to close in on him.

"Get back!" Mono _hissed_. Literally hissed. Her grip on her katana hilt tightened in anticipation, the knuckles turning white.

Eše'hȯhme'ehne stood his ground and snarled back at the Xbalanque which agitated them even further.

The Xbalanque pressed the students closer together — facing outwards and weapons pointed at the Grimm. The Griffon screeched overhead, the Xbals and Sabertooth growled as feeding time neared and the remaining Grimm, despite the initial aversion towards the Sabertooth pack, started to surge forward as the moment drew closer.

The initiates were in a loose resemblance of a circle. Oriole was directly behind Mono, Monty to her left and the fish faunus (Oceanus? His name was Oceanus?) to her right. Strategically speaking, this formation was not good. They were spread out too far and should the Grimm charge then they would be forced to seperate which was not ideal.

There was no time to fix it because the Grimm attacked.

"Down!" Monty's hand roughly forced her to duck as Oceanus' trident swept overhead and knocked aside a pouncing Xbalanque that had managed to sneak around them. The Grimm whined almost pitifully as it was beaten down but the sharp claws that were about to maul her, however, seemed to reduce the effect of sympathy.

"I can take care of myself!" Mono snarled and lunged behind Monty, unsheathing her katana and vertically bisecting a Creep that was leaping at the unknowing monkey faunus. The two halves of the Creep on both sides like a curtain parting to reveal the main character.

"Will you two stop bickering and help me?!" Yeah, then there was him.

"SHUT UP!"

In an impressive display of trust and practiced ease, Mono threw her katana sheath at Monty who automatically ducked and shot at something behind the catgirl with the guns hidden in his tonfas. Her bladed sheath cleaved the beowolf in half even as she heard the thud of a body hitting the ground behind her.

They might've been showing off a little.

The occasional flare of fire, gust of wind or Grimm bodies being tossed about was taken as a good sign — She even saw Calypso being thrown into the air by that big guy on the jaguar faunus's team. That griffon takedown was textbook.

But even so, the students were worn down from their earlier fight against the Nevermore — and before even that, their survival exercise; the students were flagging.

Someone's voice rang out over the din of combat. "Regroup! We need to regroup!"

Easier said than done. It was hard to tell what the biggest threat was right now — the sheer amount of Grimm that were somehow appearing out of thin air, how they weren't being overwhelmed was nothing short of a miracle or the Sabertooth that easily towered over every living being in the area.

Was this how it would end? Finished before they could even start?

They had kicked off so well. For a moment, Mono had deceived herself into thinking they could survive and maybe even win this battle but reality is a cruel mistress.

The beginning signs of panic were starting to sink in as almost everyone realised that they might die here.

 _Nonono. Not yet. I've only just begun. It can't end here._

The students were separated but still in sight of one another. The small spark of fear was mirrored in every student's face.

 _I'm only just getting started! I'm not done yet!_

A small spark of fear alongside a flickering ember of determination. The cliff edge was precariously close to their back as the Grimm pushed them further back, even so, they still held their weapons high.

They couldn't accept defeat although it was more likely that they couldn't accept their death which was understandable. They were all so young and had their entire lives ahead of them.

Which was why it wasn't going to end now.

The roar of a Type I Bullhead announced its arrival as it flew overhead. Everything paused as the Bullhead momentarily cast its shadow over them.

The Bullhead swivelled around, the machine guns on its front were already spinning and bullets were flying and _shellcasingsraineddownastheGrimmwerecutapart and it all happened so fast because they were going to live._

A second Bullhead made itself known as it appeared over the edge of the cliff, it had its side open and facing the students where a single Vale Trooper was motioning for them to jump in. Other troopers were crouched, their energy rifles raised at the Grimm, making _pewpewpew_ sounds as they fired.

"Come on! We don't have all day!"

The students quickly shook themselves out of their shock. They sprinted for the Bullhead, taking down any Grimm that was brave enough to stand in their way.

Mono leapt into the Bullhead and turned around just in time to see a Vale Trooper from the other Bullhead get carried away screaming by a griffon.

That was all she got to see as the Bullhead carrying them suddenly rose into the air and flew off.

The pilot glanced back at them and nodded before reaching out and pressing one button in a complicated board of buttons, knobs and sliders. They all blinked mesmerizingly. ' _Mako_ _to Hammerhead. We have the package and we're pulling out.'_

 _'Copy that Mako... We're pulling out as well... we've lost one...'_

Mono tore herself away from the conversation where one of the troopers was talking to the others. It was actually quite crowded in the vehicle, despite it obviously being made for troop transport.

All was silent except for the roaring of the loud engines.

"... So, hectic first day, huh?"

Definitely an understatement.

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 _Hi. I was meant to finish and publish it last Sunday but I had to switch my focus back to school as it had unexpectedly reared its head. And I really hated this chapter too, I had to retype it five times..._

 _Team Eše'hȯhme'_ ehne _has a different perspective_ to life _. They're different in the case that — when you strip them down to their most basic instinct — they want to survive and want to help people, but they know it's not all sunshine and lollipops in the real world. They'll have a different writing style, they're more realistic and their battles aren't flashy effects and sword measuring competitions. Luck wins all._

 _Mono and Monty are awesome together although I should really give more screentime to the other characters... Next time! I promise._

 _Yeesh. They had a close call with reality but they're holding strong. Their little panic attack was sort of a wake-up call. They've only just begun their journies._

 _My theory regarding aura is that Huntsman naturally have better aura reserves compared to the average civilian or soldier, even a trainee Huntsman would have more aura. Obviously, this also means that their aura would be much stronger._

 _My neat little schedule has been slashed to bits. Updates will be sporadic until exam season is over._

 ** _!HELP!_**

 _The problems with having an SYOC fic. Making team names. At this point, I don't even care if they don't follow the naming rule anymore (Sorry Monty!) because I am tearing out my hair just trying to think it up. So here are the teams and their initials._

 **TEAM 1 - MC, OG, MNC [Yes, you can use the N] and CC**

 **TEAM 2 - E, OM, EC, SR**

 **TEAM 3 - MO, OM, SP, RA**

 **TEAM 4 - CW, MA, FH, LA**

 _Pretty please, help me?_

* * *

 ** _Next time, on Generations, Chapter 6..._**

 **'Black is the colour of...'**

 _... "... And Rakknar has disappeared once again. What could this mean for the future of Remnant? No-one knows for certain but rest assured as the brave huntsman and huntresses will ensure that this hard-earned pearce will last. Back to you at the studio, Linda."_

 _The screen changed back to the young woman with long lavender hair sitting at her desk. "Thank you for that, Cyril." Her yellow eyes flickered to the side where photo of a banner hung in front of a burning building was shone._

 _An animal paw print that was scratched through with three claw marks, the entire thing was black on a white backdrop and the embers of the burning building were dancing in front of it. In these tense times, it was the symbol for conflict and terror._

 _For it was the spark that could potentially ignite the Great War once again._

 _"... In other news, the Black Claw..."_


End file.
